Dull Wiry Coat in Standard Poodles

A persistently dull, wiry coat on a Standard Poodle is actually a fairly telling sign — Poodles are known for their soft, dense curls, and when that texture goes off it's often a lipid deficiency rather than a grooming issue. Skin and coat problems generally fall into two buckets: a dietary gap or an underlying skin condition. Supplements make a real difference only when diet is the root cause. To point you in the right direction, can you tell me what you're currently feeding him — kibble, raw, wet food? And have you noticed anything else alongside the dull coat, like dry flaky skin, itching, or any dandruff?

That detail about the skin being fine but the coat texture changing is useful. Mid-range supermarket kibbles often skimp on omega-3 fatty acids — specifically EPA and DHA — and in Poodles that shows up almost immediately as a loss of that characteristic soft sheen and a coarser feel to the curl. The good news is this is one of the more straightforward fixes. Before I suggest anything, one more question: is he on any other supplements at the moment, and roughly how much does he weigh?

Perfect, that's really helpful. For a 28kg Poodle with this exact presentation — coat texture and shine declining on a lower-quality kibble, no skin irritation — I'd recommend YuMEGA Plus by Lintbells. It's a high-concentration omega oil blend specifically dosed for dogs, with EPA, DHA, and GLA from starflower oil. The GLA component is what sets it apart for coat texture specifically; it supports the structural quality of the hair shaft rather than just surface shine. At his weight you'd be giving around 4ml a day over his food. Most Poodle owners see a noticeable change in coat softness within six to eight weeks. It's widely available on Amazon UK and well within a sensible monthly budget.

Try the supplement first. It'll give you a clean read on whether the omega deficiency is the issue — and for most dogs on a complete kibble it is. If after eight weeks you've seen improvement but not a full transformation, then upgrading to a kibble with a higher named-meat content and listed omega-3 sources would be the logical next step. Changing both at once makes it impossible to know what actually worked. One thing at a time gives you useful information.

Good plan. Keep a quick photo record every two weeks — coat changes are gradual enough that you can miss them day to day, but comparing week two to week eight side by side is usually quite convincing. If after eight weeks you're seeing no change at all, it's worth a vet check to rule out a thyroid issue, which can also affect coat quality in middle-aged dogs. But given the presentation, I'd expect you'll see results well before that.