by: Rita Rail

I am sorry but I was not able to access your photos but like all of us pom lovers, we are ecstatic about our poms. Animals shedding hair is a normal annoyance. The cold climate does enhance this as animals must grow undercoats to protect themselves from the cold. If your dog is out walking with you often and potties outside, he will have more undercoat. All my dogs have lived in the house with me and never went out in the winter except for my shitzu who went outside to potty. He naturally grew a heavy undercoat which gave me grief to no end every springtime. As he grew older, his undercoat had thinned out significantly and nearly vanished. No-one really knows what the texture of the hair will turn out to be like in adulthood. I have found that two wire haired parents will have wire haired dogs. Two soft haired parents will be soft haired dogs but there is always the exception according to genes. I have Crystal who is a soft haired pom and will never achieve the look of a show dog as per the ones I have seen in the dog shows. She is red with a white under belly and a white very long haired tail. Her coat reaches halfway down her legs She grows thick, white slippers on all four feet all year round which I trim off in the summer and leave puffy in the winter. Her face and eyes are identified with dark stripes. She is beautiful. Emily on the other hand is a whole new ball game. She is also red and a wire haired pom. Her hair is nearly to the floor and sticks out all over. A dog who is mini under all that hair. She is red all over except her underbelly is white and her feet are so very tiny and white. She has a golden red tail flowing to the ground. Her tiny face is like a deer.Both dogs had long, wavy haired mothers and wiry haired fathers. This breeding becomes a waiting game of a year in anticipation of what we will eventually have. This is like everything else, if you use two of the same, you will most likely achieve the same and if you inter-mix, who knows!! I need to brush and comb my poms daily otherwise hair will make me want to cry. The benefits of having these intelligent (at so young an age) puppies and loyal, sensitive and loving to our needs outweighs the constant battle with hair. I often think of all the time, teaching, effort and love it takes to bring our own children to adulthood as to what we are able to achieve with a (dumb???) animal in such a short time is akin to a miracle. I love all of my animals, my tiny spitzfire who has to smell everything offered to her before consuming, who shows love and can detect when I am unhappy or not feeling well and my laid back Crystal who only wants to be near me always and loved. In a very short time your puppy will develop his own personality which will frazzle and dazzle you for many years. P>S> You must talk to your puppy to the extent that my children and husband would ask to which of them I was speaking to and I would reply, “the dogs”. Sometimes, They thought I was (losing it!!). Have fun, enjoy and Take care. RR.