A plea from a doodle groomer!

[Ginny Nightingale]

Hi all! As many of you know, I have a tiny grooming business--I groom doodles and a few Portuguese Water dogs for friends and neighbors....and I also groom a few doodles that have been purchased from the breeder I work for.

Most of my customers are terrific--they contact me when their dog is getting a bit fuzzy and matted--usually about two to maybe three months after I groomed the dog last....in that time, they often have trimmed around the eyes and mouth and may have done the nail trim. The dog has been brushed and combed and MAYBE even bathed--despite all that attention, they usually still keep me busy for a few hours bathing and grooming them and getting all the mats out.

BUT, I have a few customers that like their doodles "shaggy"--that is OK but in these cases,  after they get VERY shaggy (and matted) they really can't brush or comb them anymore and a bath would be too hard too! And they are also afraid to do nails! Oh and trimming around the eyes is so scary! (Can you hear the sarcasm in my voice!?) But since they like them shaggy, they wait 5 or 6 months to schedule a grooming. So, here is a before picture of a wonderful labradoodle that came to me 6 months after her last grooming--I love this dog so much that seeing her like this made me ill. Are you wondering " How can she see??" So was I!

And her nails were soooo long--the dew claws were curled and growing into her leg--but I managed to get in between and trim them....Here is an After pic--there she is, under all that hair! I scolded the owner and told her that I MUST see this dog every two to three months or I am not going to groom her anymore (I am much cheaper and kinder than the other groomers around here, so that is a real threat--and the dog loves me....) Yes, she is quite short, but the legs were all matted.

I have another family with the same issue and once when I groomed their dog, the hair was so long on her face that she had a HUGE abscess that they never noticed....I called them and met them at the vet's office!!

So, PLEASE, if you like a shaggy doodle, keep up with the coat, trim the nails, trim the hair over the eyes--have someone show you how or have the groomer do it between haircuts! Don't let this happen to your doodle! :)

[LORRY SWETLAND]

I bought the arm for large dogs but Turbo is now too tall for it. So now I just put him on the table and he stands ok until you get to his butt  so I but him on the floor to butt clean.