Doodle Grooming 101

[Diane Denney]

Hi Everyone. Tomorrow I am bringing Lincoln in for his first full blown grooming as he has developed matts even though I've been brushing him I'm having no luck at getting these matts out. The groomers told me that they would have to get quite close to get these matts out. It's from the dampness from the snow. There was another Goldendoodle getting groomed while I was there getting a German clip so that's what I'm going to have Lincoln groomed as. I'm so nervous, but his hair is way out of control. It doesn't stop growing and it's more like poodle hair. Very curly!!!! Now with that said I just read the main page of this group, and now realize (after I posted this discussion on the main DK site) that this is normal and that clipping him won't help the matts? Or am I misunderstanding. My Doodle keeps biting at the brush, and me while I try to brush him so this is very stressful for both him and I. I really liked what the Goldendoodle at the groomer looked like today although I have to say that now that I've been sent the Doodle Do groomers sheet from idog.biz I'm not sure if I should do this clip or not. Also he has an extremely high puff on the top of his head like a poodles, and very spirally hair. I noticed that the instructions say not to have a rounded top and I think that this dog had one, but I can't remember for sure. So many questions.....any advice will help.

[Barb @ Gemstone Labradoodles]

This is one of my dogs with a shaved body with a number 4 skip tooth blade and scissored legs and head. This is the shortest I have ever done one of my wool coated dogs, but I am sure he loved it. He was having some ear issues and I wanted to get as much air into the area as I could. It worked perfectly so all in all it was a good experience. I usually scissor to 2 inches and this coat is about 1/2 an inch. You do have to keep brushing and combing to get all the puppy hair out. You cannot cut it off. If your dog does not shed, then you have to pull the puppy coat out over time. My 2 year old and older dogs do not mat very easily. My younger ones do. Mostly I let the top of the head grow long and let it flop over, but I have one dog whose hair just goes up and up so I keep her head short. I have a good sample of coat types here as I have 14 doodles. :-)

[Diane Denney]

Well I guess a good hair cut can't hurt, and I'll keep maintaining it from there. I guess I'll have to buy some better grooming tools. At least it grows back if I don't like it!!! I don't think it will take too long because I just had his face done in December and it's already going over his eyes again. I'm going to need an in-house groomer to keep up!!!LOL. Yeah Lincolns poof at the top of his head just seems to keep growing and growing upward. It hasn't flipped over yet, but maybe it isn't long enough. I'll take before and after pictures. Thanks!!

[Lynne B]

Barb, move to Reno NV so you can groom Beck for me...you do such beautiful work!

[Dan, Judi, & Timbow]

I agree that it is your decision and preference on how to get your doodle clipped. My doodle, Timbow, used to have a major issue biting at the brush (everything's a toy). I started giving him a bully stick to chew on while I brushed him. I did this every night for 2 weeks. Now I can brush him and he relaxes and enjoys it. Of course on days that he is extra hyper he will get a chew, but overall it really worked for us. You might also look into a good spray leave in conditioner. Hope the grooming appointment goes well!! You'll have to post pictures! :-)

[Diane Denney]

Thanks for the tips!! Well you won't believe this, but they couldn't finish him today. He was standing getting groomed from 2:50pm until 6:15pm when they finally asked if they could finish him up later!!! He did very well actually, but I couldn't believe that they couldn't get it all done in that amount of time. He still has his head, face and back legs to do. They said they ran into a lot of more matts than they anticipated. They said his coat disguised them really well. He looks goofy so I won't post his new pic until he's finished on Tuesday morning. I was bummed that they didn't finish it, but they said he was starting to get fed up, and it was getting harder, and that they didn't want to hurt him accidentally.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Who could blame him?

[Diane Denney]

No kidding!!! I felt so bad for him!!!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I admire them for working on him so long and asking you to bring him back so that they could finish. It sounds like they care about doing a good job. I can't wait to see pictures. I want one of the mid-groom too! Rolled leather collars - especially undyed are the least mat causing of the collars.

[Diane Denney]

I do have one pic I took while he was being groomed, but I don't know how good it is. Thanks for the tip about the collar.

[Diane Denney]

Here are the before and after pics. I'm not sure I like it. I'm not sure I like how they did his face. Tell me what you think.

[Diane Denney]

I would like to see his body coat a little longer, and his legs matched up with the bell at the bottom, and his top shorter. You still can't see his eyes very well. Should they have groomed between them or something. That is what looks really odd to me.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I think that they groom poodles a lot and just tried to modify a poodle cut. Perhaps his body had to be that short but the shoulders and legs needed to be cut to blend with the body and then gradually bell out down the leg. He sure is a beautiful color.