She definitely won't wait seven years to go dull due to spaying!
As I have said many many times, I think a spay causes dull and flyaway coat only occasionally and have seen little evidence to the contrary. Far more common is the dog's genes, being overweight, mediocre diet, poor coat care, overwashing and blowdrying, lack of needed oils/nutrition or just age. As a spay/neuter slightly lowers metabolism and therefore people easily overfeed and the dog gets overweight, I think poor coats are more the result of fat dogs and genetic predisposition myself, not the neuter. If I see significant evidence the other way, then I'll eventually be persuaded otherwise. :lol:
But from working in rescue and being around dog trainers and training classes all the time, I have seen and owned too many spayed and neutered dogs that have had no effect on their coats to believe a neuter always or even frequently has this effect. And taken plenty of intact cavaliers into rescue with terrible coats!! Lily is a case in point for how a spayed dog's coat is almost surely due to other factors and improves with proper care and state of health-- her coat has been really terrible most of the time I have had her -- she was already spayed, I've owned her for going on 2 years. Improving her diet, losing a third of her body weight, and getting regular oils into her diet has seen a huge improvement now on her head and ears and neck to shoulders, all nice and glossy. I keep thinning her coat regularly to allow healthier new coat to come in.
I give my dogs Kronch salmon oil from
www.paddypaw.co.uk now daily. I have read that increasing the right fats will help with coat appearance -- waiting to see if this is the case. Here's the link to what I get:
http://www.paddypaw.co.uk/products_kronch_salmon_oil.html. Zoolpus.co.uk (or .ie) also has small bottles of salmon oil, a different brand.
Back a few decades,dog owners were told to give raw egg to do the same -- this is what our pyrenees breeder told my parents. She was spayed BTW and had a magnificent coat -- parents were occasionally stopped by any pyrenees show folks and asked if they showed her as she was apparently a very good breed example too, but she was spayed on agreement with the breeder due to an overbite -- but my folks would have done it anyway.
A conditioner or finishing spray with some silicone in it really makes any coat lie nicely and gives it gloss. I like one called The Stuff but there are lots out there. The added benefit is they repel urine and dirt and really do keep the dog cleaner for quite some time after a wash.