How to tell if your dog has hair or fur? Difference between Dog fur and hair

Let me tell you…(There is no difference between fur and hair)

How to tell if your dog has hair or fur? It may surprise you to know that, on the molecular level, there is no difference between hair and fur. Both of these are made up of the same stuff-keratin, the protein substance found in your nails and skin.

The question is how hair and fur useful for each type of dog breed, it serves different purposes at different parts of the body. It is part of their evolution. Fur plays its role and hair has its own role.

The total hair length on different parts of your dog’s body is completely determined by genetics and breed.

Each hair follicle grows for a time and then stops its growth in the state of halt – means, not growing.

During the anagen period, hair grows. Dog hair goes through a much longer anagen phase. Hair stops growing during the catagen phase, and the outer root sheath shrinks, and the hair’s root is cut off from its blood supply and from the cells that produce new hair. This is followed by a telogen phase, during which the follicle is in a state of rest. Eventually, dogs’ hair falls out in exogen state and the whole cycle starts again. Usually, this is faster in the summer months as part of the natural shedding process is to lose the previous winter’s coat.

Depending on the type of dog breed, hair can differ in their growth cycles, their textures, and their brush and grooming needs.

If you’re not sure what type of coat your dog has, that’s the first thing you need to figure out.

Tip: Hair or fur?

We can say, if your dog’s hair continuously grows, that means it is hair and if it stops growing at a certain length, that means he has fur.

Fur type hair on dogs is usually shorter and denser. Because of the shorter growth cycle, it can grow and shed fast and thicker especially in cold months.

Fur usually sheds more easily than so-called hair for that reason, and the coat doesn’t trap the fur that sheds as much as a coat of hair would, so you will probably be cleaning more of it off of your clothes and furniture, especially during seasonal changes when a new coat comes in.

Dogs with fur often but not always have a double coat, meaning they have a soft, fine undercoat that helps them regulate their body temperature and an overcoat.

List of dogs with hair

Basically no difference in fur and hair its all in the type of hair grows on different breeds it’s all in its DNA.

There are at least 36 breeds of dogs that grow hair as their coat. Many of these breeds are well known and registered with the American Kennel Club, while some are less commonly known. If they aren’t trimmed, hair coats can grow to indeterminate lengths. Many do not shed. Several of these breeds are even hypoallergenic.

Large breed of dogs with hair:

Many of the large breed dogs, the hair coats are curly, flowing and straight, wiry and rough, and for some nearly hairless.

The Portuguese water dog, standard poodle and Irish water spaniel have curly hair coats.
The bearded collie grows a flowing straight coat.
Wiry rough coats can be found in the airedale and giant schnauzer.
The standard xoloitzcuintli, and the Peruvian inca orchid are predominately hairless breeds with straight hair growing only on some parts of their bodies.

Individual dogs have different grooming needs, with most needing monthly grooming or daily care. See this in-depth article, you can understand all about grooming brush for your dog.

Medium dog breeds with hair:

A wide range of hair-coated breeds can be found in the medium group. With ratters, herders, companion dogs, working dog breeds and small working hounds, a diverse group.

Curly coats can be found on the miniature poodle and logatto romagnolo.
Wiry rough coats on the kerry blue terrier, bedlington terrier, wirehaired fox terrier, and standard schnauzer.
Wiry rough coats can be found in the airedale and giant schnauzer.
Flowing straight coats on the Polish lowland sheepdog, Tibetan terrier, lowchen, lhasa apso, miniature coated xolo, and soft coated wheaten terrier, it’s stylish.
The basenji has a very short soft coat. They almost naturally fall into rastafarian style cords if left to continually grow.

By the way, there are many unusual hair coats can be found in the medium sized group.

Small and toy dog breeds with hair:

Several quite popular breeds are included in toy category with hair on its coat.

The Maltese, Yorkshire terrier, miniature poodle, bichon frise, miniature schnauzer, Havanese, and Shih-tzu have differing coat characteristics, these are widely accepted as wonderful small companion dogs with monthly grooming needs.
There are less common small and toy hair breeds, the bichon type Bolognese, the Brussels griffon, both hairless and puff varieties of the Chinese crested and toy xolo, the coton de tulear and the Dandie dinmont terrier.

This is how to tell if your dog has hair or fur