Hi Lunasmom, I heard somewhere that the principle of self-cleaning is something like the lanolin (I don't know if it is the proper english name), that keeps sheep coats clean. They sell some sheep-coat products in Slovakia (not wool weave, other kind of material - maybe fleece is the right term) and when I was talking with them about how to take care of the material, they specified that it only needs to be washed in pure water, because it has the lanolin (or whatever) that somehow repels the dirt, and it would be destroyed by detergents.
Lanolin is a kind of oil, but that does not mean you would feel the coat oily or whatever, your hair also doesn't feel oily after washing although you probably use shampoos and other things that contain oils for protection and nourishment of your hair. And if you shampoo your dog, its hair is much dryer than normally and therefore it is not advised to wash your wolfdog before show as it decreases coat quality (at least for judges who know how the wolfdog hair is supposed to feel like).
Frei also has a lot of undercoat mostly and sometimes when I scratch her, especially at parts with denser coat, I have the dander on my fingertips. I suppose it is because the undercoat is keeping it there more, or mayby because when she rolls in grass and swims in water it is more protected from rubbing off. Or maybe it is even produced more as it contains little parts of hair and so the more hair the more dander... But in case of Frei I think the remains on my fingertips also contain normal dust and dirt, as I do not groom her (I find it unnecessary when she lives outsides). But they have the slightly oily quality of dander which you would not expect from dirt, which is mostly dry.
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