undercoat

“It is thought that double coats can also help the animal stay cool in hot temperatures as the undercoat usually stands upright and may allow improved air flow closer to the skin,” said DeMel.

Prized for their thick undercoats, the dogs were sheared like sheep and often kept in pens or on islands to carefully manage their breeding and to care for the canines' health and vitality.

Like the Sto:lo, many Coast Salish groups in the Pacific Northwest have oral traditions recollecting dogs whose coiled undercoats were spun into fibers and woven into elaborately patterned blankets.

In fact, Fleegle says a white-tailed deer’s undercoat is thicker than sheep wool.

However, it can be helpful to regularly remove the undercoat, the hair that lies closer to the body, by brushing.