Australian Labradoodles

Comment

Comment by Cheryl and Finnegan on August 15, 2014 at 6:25am

Welcome Kim.  Finn is a wavy fleecy doodle and he started to mat about the same age.  I keep him short in the summer  -- longer in winter.  I keep his belly and armpits short because that's where he mats the worst and it's too sensitive to work out mats there.  I try to brush and comb a couple times a week --especially his legs and around his ears.  I use a blunt scissors to cut through any mats vertically. That usually works to loosen the mat and you can comb it out. As he's gotten older (he's 4 now) the matting is less :)   

Comment by Kate, Mel, Tenley & Harper on July 31, 2014 at 7:37am

Mel (wool coat) started matting at about a year old. He has been shaved down many times, I find the wool coat nearly impossible to keep up with. Plus, we like the look of the wool coat when it is shorter. Tenley's wavy fleece coat is much different. He started matting at about 9 months old. He goes for a bath and brush every 2 weeks and a full grooming every 6 weeks. That helps keep them at bay (the groomers are way better at brushing then I am) and I brush him a few nights a week in between. He's going to the groomer on Sunday and I'll get him clipped back to about an inch again (currently 3.5"). I also have him shaved in the problem spots (belly, armpits, under head (but not so short that you can see it is shaved there).

Comment by Gwyndolyn Morasko on July 31, 2014 at 7:33am

Hello Kim,

Welcome to the site.  There are lots of threads to check out, so wander around and see if there are any related threads on the Grooming forum to help with the matting issue.  When you say that you keeping up with the combing and brushing, how often was that?  Kona is a double doodle (half Australian Labradoodle and half Goldendoodle) and is a mini who looks a little like your little guy.  His worst matting incident was when he was 10 months old and transitioning to his adult coat.  He started getting a few mats that were easy to slice out with a sharp scissor or matting tool. Then I adopted another 10 to 11 month old EXTREMELY playful puppy and all of their wrestling and mouthing created about 100 mats in just 4 days!!!!  Since I didn't want to shave him down, I spent about 4 hours per day for 4 days slicing through and combing out each mat.  It was very laborious work.  That is why groomers want to just shave them down.  Once they get more than 4 or 5 mats, they will go the easy route.  So that is when I bought a bunch of grooming tools and have stayed on top of the mats every day.  Plus, sadly, I did say goodbye to the long 4 to 5 inch hair and now keep him at about 2 inches.  When it reaches about 4 inches, I take it back down to 2 inches.  He now goes months without more than one or 2 mats because he is easier to brush out.  But I did have to switch to brushing him out about 5 nights a week.  He is now like a ragdoll lying on his back on my legs while I brush him out, so it does get easier.  Because of the rough play with his adopted sister, he does still get 1 or 2 mats a week, but they are easy to find and slice through.  Place one of the pointed scissor blades through the very bottom of the mat with the sharp side facing up, and then slice upward through the mat and repeat several times.  This way, you don't have to cut out the hole mat at the bottom, leaving a big bald spot.  It saves a lot of hair and makes it easier to pull the mat apart with your fingers or dematting comb.   There are a lot more tips on the grooming forum, and you can google around for you-tube videos.  Kona is now 22 months old, so I've been doing this for a full year now and love that I haven't had to have him shaved.  I only take him in 2 times per year for the 2 inch clipping.  The rest of the time, I trim his eyes and take a little off the top on my own. I keep his adopted sisters hair 4 to 5 inches long and thin out her thick undercoat with a dematting rake. 

Comment by Kim Banda on July 31, 2014 at 7:13am

Hello Group!  I just joined this site the other day and was happy to find a group for Australian Labradoodles!   Our Bailey just turned a year old and unfortunately had to have her shaved down due to mattes.   Thought we were keeping up well with combing/brushing - but unfortunately not.   She looks like a totally different dog for the time being -- but still has her same loving personality!  Any tips on avoiding a shave down in the future would be greatly appreciated!  Hoping that this was more of a puppy coat/adult coat timing rather than a regular occurrence. 

Comment by Jody Neeley on June 28, 2014 at 1:51pm

Thanks for the welcome! We live just north of Salt Lake City in a town called Bountiful. Both my husband and I have lived in Utah our entire lives and love it here. I joined this group because we are on a wait list for an Australian Labradoodle puppy and are expecting to become dog owners the end of this year. We are excited and nervous to take on this task! Thanks for all the words of wisdom, hopefully it will help me be better prepared ;)

Comment by Lynda Kamrath on June 27, 2014 at 7:14pm

Hello, Alice.  Good idea to post a comment when you join a new group.  There are 22 pages of members in this group and I wanted to see where you were from.  I see Utah, so welcome from California.

Comment by Christina on June 23, 2014 at 6:28pm

Hi Lynda and Michele...

I also may be the new member... joined just recently as well.  I also have  a 5-mo-old multi-gen miniature labradoodle, Oakley... in fact- he also is adorable probably cause he is 1/2 brother with Fenway!! we live in Vacaville, Ca.  

Comment by Lynda Kamrath on June 23, 2014 at 9:09am

Yes, Michele, it was you.  I remember the last name.  We also have a multi-gen Australian Labradoodle, and he is four years old.  In fact his birthday was this last weekend.  Copper went home after 7 weeks, and so we enjoyed the weekend with a date night, the theater and dinner, and Harpo jumped the fence somewhere and our neighbor brought him home.

Always something with dogs.  You are close so let us know when you are down this way and we can get together at the beach.  BTW, Carmel Poodle Day is on Sept. 27  and I always go to that with my camera.  I will send you a Smilebox of last year if you like.

Comment by Michele Kiss on June 22, 2014 at 8:57pm

@Lynda oh that might be me!! Just joined the group recently. I am Michele, and our pup is Fenway. He is a 5-mo-old multi-gen miniature labradoodle and pretty much the most adorable thing ever :-)  We live in Silicon Valley. 

Comment by Lynda Kamrath on June 22, 2014 at 7:21pm

Who is the new member of Australian labrodoodles?

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