There are many kinds of coats worn by Papillons, but there is only one type that is correct, a silky coat.  As the breed standard describes it, the Papillon coat is “Abundant, long fine, silky, flowing, straight with resilient quality, flat on back and sides of body.”  How is silky defined?

Being a former clothing designer, I can tell you what silky fabric is and compare it to the correct Papillon coat texture.  There is nothing like silk fabric to wear and to touch.  Silk feels cool on the body and crisp to the hand.  But the true test of silk is how it appears to the eye when light hits it.  Silk has a soft sheen with a subtle reflective quality, unlike any other type of fabric. 

Note that having a silky coat does not mean one that is extremely soft or overly fine in texture.  That type would be called “cottony.”  It would mat profusely, and absorb dirt instead of repelling it.  This incorrect soft coat, which mats into knots if left unbrushed, can be seen on all Papillons behind their ears.  It does not have the weight, body or sheen required to be considered silky.  On an entire body, it would be too bushy, flyaway, cottony, dull, and lacking in substance.

A Papillon with too harsh a coat texture (due to a thicker hair shaft) could have an appearance more like a Pomeranian.  When this incorrect harsh texture is combined with an overly abundant, profuse coat, the look is quite coarse.  If the dog has an undercoat, the coat will have a tendency to stick out and have a wooly appearance.  Sometimes such coats are “doctored up” with corrective shampoos, sprays, towel wraps, and creme rinses, but they will not have the correct flowing, silky appearance no matter how expert one’s grooming skills may be.  Some handlers also will attempt to “sculpt” this type of coat texture.  They “carve out” necks, “straighten” bad toplines, “shorten” long bodies, and even “shrink” big heads, giving smaller ears a larger appearance by trimming around the skull. 

You will also see some adult Papillons with a short, thick coat.  This coat type may give the false impression of being correct because it has a shine, but it doesn’t have the length, nor does it lie as straight as the correct coat.  Note that this type of coat should not be confused with a young puppy’s coat that is still growing.

One of the worst types of Papillon coats is the curly coat.  Many breeders attribute this to the spaniel ancestry behind our breed.  Some bitches develop different coat textures after a litter and may get waves in their coat after whelping.

Aside from coat texture, there are two schools of thought on the correct length.  Some breeders say you can’t have enough coat, others say there should be some amount of daylight seen under the chest.  I feel the Papillon is a medium coated breed and should not have a coat that drags to the ground.  I also feel that you should breed for correct coat, rather than trying to create it with cleaver grooming techniques. 

Published with permission from the AKC GAZETTE.  This article is not to be copied, whole or in part, without written permission from the author.

Roseann Fucillo