Goat hair. It’s not a fiber you expect to see mentioned in a dog breed standard, and yet one breed’s standard does.  From its FCI breed standard: Coat hair: “Very abundant, very long and different depending on the regions. The texture is harsh, (goat hair) particularly on the front of the body.”

In its AKC breed standard, “goat hair” is mentioned SEVEN times. If you guessed that the breed was “goat,” nice try, but wrong species.  “Goat hair” appears in the standards of the Bergamasco. One more thing: Bergamaschi (the plural form) do NOT have a corded coat. Their amazing coats are “flocked,” or more technically speaking, strands of hair weaved together creating flat layers
of felted hair.

The Bergamasco coat is comprised of three types of hair: Undercoat, “goat hair,” and an outer coat. The undercoat is short, dense, and has a fine texture that’s oily to the touch and forms a waterproof layer against the skin.  On the other hand, the “goat hair” is straight, rough textured, and long.

And finally, the outer coat is finer, but woollier.It’s the outer coat and “goat hair”being distributed evenly over the dog that creates the characteristic flocks.

Image: “Ortensia di Valle Scrivia” by Luigi Guidobono Cavalchini licensed under CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons