Coat Length and Curl
Long Hair (lh2)
Alternative Names: Fluffy, Rough, Wooly

The Long Hair variant "lh2" causes long hair in dogs and is the c.556del variant located in the FGF5 gene. It was previously reported as Long Hair (Variant 2).
Breeds
Long Hair (lh2) is common in:

Chow Chow

Eurasier
More Info
Did you know?
Long-coated individuals can turn up in many breeds, owing to the recessive nature of the variant and sometimes, breed history. For example, in the 1800's both long-coated and short-coated Basset Hounds occurred, and were shown together. Surprising breeds that occasionally show a long coat include American Staffordshire Terriers, English Bulldogs, French Bulldogs, Rottweilers, American Bulldogs, Pugs, Labradors, and many others.
How it works
To show a long coat, a dog must inherit two copies of a Long Hair variant, one from each parent. This can either be two copies of a particular variant, such as this one (lh2) or two of any combination of long hair variants. This variant is quite rare, and found primarily in breeds of ancient origin, such as the Chow Chow and Eurasier. There are likely other rare variants that influence coat length.
Health implications
Long-coated breeds require regular grooming to prevent mats from forming which can cause discomfort, and in severe cases, skin injury.
Prevalence
1 in 60 dogs
has one or more copy of this genetic variant in our testing.
Technical Details
Gene | FGF5 |
---|---|
Variant | Deletion |
Chromosome | 32 |
Coordinate Start | 4,528,617 |
Coordinate End | 4,528,632 |
All coordinates reference CanFam3.1
References & Credit
Credit to our scientific colleagues:
Dierks, C., Mömke, S., Philipp, U., & Distl, O. (2013). Allelic heterogeneity of FGF5 mutations causes the long-hair phenotype in dogs. Animal Genetics, 44(4), 425–431. View the article