GOLDENDOODLE & BERNEDOODLE FURNISHINGS

Furnishing Intro

When we talk to potential puppy families or other people curious about Goldendoodles and Bernedoodles and their characteristics, we eventually end up discussing “furnishings”.

For a long time, this term gave me images of couches, end tables, and the occasional ottoman. This term can’t help but to cause confusion, because it seems so out of context. However, “furnishings” is a highly relevant term that helps paint a picture of a dog’s characteristics and it’s potential shedding level.

What are Furnishings?

So, what are furnishings?

Facial furnishings in dogs refer to longer hair on certain parts of the face, including the muzzle, eyebrows, and beard.

While I couldn’t quite find the exact origin of the term, the most probable taxonomy of the word comes from the idea that this longer hair on the face and muzzle decorates - or “furnishes” the dog’s face with this longer hair.

This resemblance to a beard is why some people describe both Goldendoodles and Labradoodles as “bearded retrievers”. These longer hairs contribute to a distinctive and often charming appearance in specific breeds. These facial furnishings can vary in length and texture depending on the particular dog’s breed or breeds.

Let’s contrast this with the idea of “improper coats” (IC) or flat coats. In general, “improper coat” is a broad term that refers to any aspect of a dog’s coat that doesn’t fit a particular breed standard for a dog. In general, it could refer to “furnishings”, but it could also describe the coat texture or color. In the doodle breeding community, it has come to refer to a particular goldendoodle or bernedoodle that doesn’t have furnishings and has a short smooth hair on their muzzle compared to the desired bearded appearance of most doodles.

Another term that describes a doodle without furnishings is a “flat coat”. In general, this term refers to dogs that possess a shorter and smoother coat that remains fairly tight to the body. Goldendoodle and Bernedoodle breeders have taken it a step further, using the term to describe dogs without furnishings that have short smooth hair on the dog’s muzzle. However, sometimes these goldendoodles and bernedoodles may have longer hair on the rest of its body, but their muzzles remain smooth and short. This short muzzle hair tends to make these hybrids more closely resemble their flat-coated ancestor, be it a golden retriever or Bernese mountain dog.

There is also another trait that lies between these two called weak furnishings. A dog with weak furnishings will fit this description. It will have some longer hair on the muzzle, but it will be much shorter and sparse in comparison to a dog with furnishings. To me, weak furnished goldendoodles and bernedoodles remind me more of an unfurnished dog than a furnished one.

Genetics of Furnishings

While the totality genetics of that impact goldendoodle and bernedoodle furnishings is complex and almost incomprehensible, predicting whether a litter or a particular puppy has furnishings is pretty straight forward. That’s because with the advancement of dog DNA testing, every dog can be tested to see if they carry one or two copies of the furnishing gene.

This gene (RSPO2) is an autosomal inheritance pattern, which just means that just one copy of the dominant gene needs to be present in order to display the trait. Just think back to your 8th grade biology class, when you discussed Mendel and Punnett squares. A dog can carry three different alleles in this pairing: furnishings (F), weak furnishings (wF), or improper coat/no furnishings (IC). This is also their order of dominance, with Furnishings having the highest dominance, followed by weak furnishings, while IC is recessive.

So for a brief review, if a goldendoodle inherits one F gene from either of their parent, they will display furnishings regardless of what they inherit from the other parent.

If the same goldendoodle instead inherits a wF gene from either of their parent, they would need to inherit either another wF or an IC gene from the other parent in order to display weak furnishings.

Finally, the only way this hypothetical goldendoodle with display a flat coat/improper coat/no furnishings is if it inherited an IC gene from both parents.

Since this inheritance structure it pretty straight forward, if a breeder knows the furnishing genes of their sire and dam, then they can anticipate a litter’s potential outcomes along with their probabilities.

Additionally, a couple canine genetic labs offer DNA analysis services for puppies - even a few days old - so that we can test all of the puppies early on to see their furnishing genes.

So even though dog furnishings are impacted by a wide array of genetic factors - many beyond our ability to map and comprehend - we do have the ability to know if a particular goldendoodle dog or puppy has furnishings or not.

Furnishings, Shedding, & Allergies

While some people prefer the appearance of a bernedoodle or goldendoodle with furnishings, we spend more time discussing how furnishings relate with how much these dogs shed and impact people’s dog allergies. What we’ve noticed through our experience is that furnished goldendoodles and bernedoodles shed substantially less in comparison to their golden retriever or Bernese mountain dog ancestor. It’s so drastically less that these furnished goldendoodles and bernedoodles appear to not shed at all. Envision how much hair ends up on you after a golden retriever brushes up against you. Now imagine just the occasional couple hairs under a shelf or in the dog’s comb after brushing it.

As an aside, some breeders will market their poodle hybrids as non-shedding, however, pretty much all dogs shed in some capacity even if it is a small amount.

One common explanation is that poodles or furnished Goldendoodles have “hair” that grows continuously, while golden retrievers, Bernese mountain dogs, or other unfurnished dogs have fur that has a cyclical growth pattern. While I’m unsure if this clean dualism is fully accurate, it does highlight the respective differing growth patterns.

Through our experience, we’ve also noticed that our unfurnished goldnedoodles and bernedoodles shed much less than a Golden Retriever or Bernese Mountain Dog, these flat-coated dogs still shed more than their furnished relatives and littermates.

Also, many canine genetic labs will offer a “shedding” gene test and assess whether a dog will be a high, medium, or low shedder. While this sounds nice and tidy, we’re skeptical on the predictive power of this shedding test. Some of our dogs - even purebred poodles like Luna - who are furnished and “low shedding” seems to shed a little more than other of our dogs who only carry one copy of a furnishing gene and have been genetically assessed a medium level shedders.

We’ve also heard some discuss that a goldendoodle’s coat texture - such as curly, wavy, or straight - impacts how much a dog shed. For instance, some claim that curly-coated dogs “shed” less than straight-coated dogs because this curly hair gets caught in the rest of the dog’s coat. However, we haven’t seen a noticeable difference with this variable though, and this seems like a bit of a misunderstanding to us.

There just seem to be individual differences in how much particular dogs shed that cannot be discerned through the genetic testing. So we believe the largest predictor on how much a goldendoodle or bernedoodle shed is whether the dog has furnishings or not.

Since furnishings do seem to reduce the amount that a particular dog sheds, and since dog’s hair also brings dog dander and the allergy-causing proteins with it, a furnished goldendoodle or bernedoodle seems to trigger substantially less allergies then a Bernese mountain dog or golden retriever. However, exposure to dog hair isn’t the only thing that contributes to canine allergies, as we discussed in another post on whether goldendoodles and bernedoodles are really hypoallergenic.

Furnishings and Grooming

So here’s the good news: furnished Goldendoodles and Bernedoodles minimally shed, and may even appear to not shed at all.

However, the flip side of this - and what some might call the bad news - is that furnished Goldendoodles and Bernedoodles need regular coat care and grooming appointments to help their coats stay fresh and luscious.

These dogs need to be frequently brushed out to prevent matting, potentially every day! When brushing, you need to make sure to brush/comb out their hair all the way to their skin. A superficial brushing may seem to make a difference, but they can develop mats in their coats right up against their skin, which are the bain of a groomer’s existence, and can contribute to skin reactions and illnesses.

If you prefer to keep your bernedoodle or goldendoodle’s coat long, just be prepared because a longer coat tends to require more brushing, care, and maintenance than a shorter coat. This not only includes regular brushing, but also bathing.

Furnished Goldendoodles and Bernedoodles also require routine grooming in order to keep their coats at their desired length. We typically advise our puppy families to have their dogs first groomed around 6 months of age, and then need grooming every 5-6 weeks, depending on the condition of their coats.

Grooming can be a substantial expense - around $80-200 a session - and most groomers have pretty full books, so finding a local groomer that you like and is accepting new clients can be a bit of a process. Just be aware of this as your considering a furnished goldendoodle and bernedoodle.

However, you could also opt to do the grooming yourself. There is a substantial learning curve, and an initial cost to buy the necessary equipment to properly groom. We do all of our grooming in house; it’s been a learning process, but definitely doable. Just be prepared for some patient dedication and a some less than stellar groomings before you get your legs under you.

Final Thoughts on Furnishings

In closing, furnishings refer to the longer hair on a bernedoodle and goldendoodle’s face. This characteristic is what give these dogs their signature look, although not all poodle hybrids are furnished. These “unfurnished” dogs can also be described as having a flat coat or improper coat.

Furnishings are a dominant heritable trait, and most canine genetic labs offer specific furnishing tests for dogs. Furnishings also also correlated with minimal shedding and low-allergy, however every dog always has some trace amounts of shedding and dander production.

Furnished goldendoodles and bernedoodles also require regular, routine coat care and grooming in order to keep them healthy and flourishing.

Few things are as cute and heart-warming as a bushy-muzzled goldendoodle or bernedoodle nuzzling up to you, and one of the things that really drew us towards these beautiful hybrids.

Let us know if you have any other questions or comments about furnishings!

Warmly,

Erin and Jay