Does the matting get better?

[Piper Clark]

Our nine month labradoodle has a beautiful coat, but it's starting to mat so badly. I know his adult coat is coming in and so I've been brushing, brushing, brushing. But he's still matting (mostly around his neck, on his belly and under his arms). Once he gets his adult coat in does this matting lessen quite a bit? Or are labradoodles always getting mats their entire lives? I just scheduled his first cut next week.

[Lynn D.]

Wow Piper! Teddy is a cutey!

Some do, some don't.

[Piper Clark]

Thanks so much!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

We have a F1B Labradoodle, Fudge, who is two. She has always matted, so I am not expecting that to change. Our Vern is a F3 Labradoodle and his coat is much different than Fudge's coat and he does not mat near as much. I guess every doodle is different, but your pup is just adorable.

[Piper Clark]

Thanks! He's a lovebug!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

It usually does get much better although it might continue to be a problem.  Ned began matting at 6 months and continued to mat badly until he was two.  He is turning three this month and we just went over two weeks without brushing him - amazing....

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I have found that the matting is worse during the coat change....which for older Doodle was between 10  and 18 mos.  Once that was over there would still be occasional mats, but they are pretty easily controlled.  My younger Doodle is in the middle of the coat change right now.  I had him cut back to about one inch (less in some spots), and I'll keep him short until the coat change is over.  I just found the dematting was too hard on both of us.

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

I agree with keeping them shorter as being a great deterrant to mats. I have very little problems with mats as I keep one doodle about 3/4-1" long and as he's growing out, I comb (not brush) a few times a week. I do use Cowboy Magic to get any serious mats out around his ears mostly, but again combing helps with that. Our Bella is 7 months old and shedding quite a bit, but even being about 4" plus long, she doesn't mat. I recently cut her back to about 2" just because Dh thought it would help with shedding...(still not sure how, but i did as he asked, sorry to say, as it cut her beautiful waves out) 

I tend to be a big believer in using really good dog shampoos too, and conditioners. What are you bathing him in? BTW....I bath my two at least every two weeks, regardless of popular opinion that they don;t need it but a few times a year. That just doesn't work for me, especially when they mat as they get dirty and they sleep with us. Hope I've given you some suggestions that help.

 

[Piper Clark]

I've used a lot of different doggy shampoos. Right now I'm actually using Mane and Tail and I condition with Pantene. Probably not the best choice for conditioner since it's for humans, but it seems to work fairly well. I'm totally open, though, to suggestions. I do bathe him once a week. The main reason is that he goes to PetSmart for doggy daycamp and to the dog park - a place that gets him really muddy at times.

 

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I would bath once a week too if Ned and Clancy went to doggy daycare and got all slobbered on.

[JoAnne Terry and Bella]

I posted earlier this week about Bella's mats. She is about 18 months so maybe they are just so bad because of a coat change? (Wishful thinking???) . I was wondering if doodles who don't shed mat worse than doodles who shed? If a coat doesn't shed doesn't the dead fur have to go somewhere?

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

This is just my opinion but I think generally, the matting is considerably worse with non-shedding doodles.

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

I think it has more to do with the curl than the shedding, but who knows.

 

(Not a doodle but...) my parents' dog Yoshi is a Bichon Frise who has "ringlet" type curls, and she mats like crazy.  Her hair is similar to a lot of F1B doodles with tight curls, but she's smaller so the curls are even tighter on her!

It's impossible to prevent her hair from matting; it has to be kept short so my parents don't spend eons grooming her every day.

 

Luna is our F1 mini goldendoodle, and she has wavy hair that is a mix between a wiry adult hair and softer coat, which may still be puppy coat or may just be an undercoat.  She sheds a little, and she's not quite done growing in her adult coat, but she doesn't mat AT ALL.  I can count on one hand the number of times I've brushed or combed her since we got her 5 months ago.