How do I trim full ears and what to do with an unruly muzzle?

[Louise and Toby]

Hi all! Toby has full, fluffy ears. He looks a little too poodle to me. I would like them shorter and less full but not looking blunt cut - how do I do that? Also, he has such an unruly muzzle - especially the back part of it. Right now I'm trying to let it grow longer to see if it will straighten out. Do you think that will work?
Also, any suggestions about a brand of really good thinning shears?
Thanks so much!

[Barb @ Gemstone Labradoodles]

Hi Louise I use the length of the head hair as a guideline for the length of the hair on the ears. ie, if the head hair is 2 inches, no hair on any part of the ear should be longer than 2 inches. This gives them a layered look. Also I often shave the inside of the ear flap right to the end to lighten the weight. This also thins the bottom layer so it looks shaggier and lighter.
The top of the head could be flatter. That helps take away from the poodly look.
Just let the muzzle grow. Fluffy muzzles are great. I have a whole bunch of them here.

[Louise and Toby]

Thanks Barb for your input. I worked on his ears the other day and wait till you see all the hair that came off. I used my old, not so great thinning shears mostly. And I'm still letting the muzzle grow out but thinned it a bit underneath. Okay here come the pictures! next we'll get a little more off the top! You know, it still looks like more needs to come off the ears still! I'm not sure we could ever the cute look of the doodle you have in the picture! Toby's hair "yarns" on his legs but not so much on his head and ears. I'll keep experimenting.
This ear has been trimmed - face is dirty because he had been digging!!

This ear has not been trimmed yet

Done, for now!

Look at all the hair, I got lots off from the underside as you suggested.

[Barb @ Gemstone Labradoodles]

Great! Ears are looking a lot more doodly. I think you are right you could take more off. Particularly because his coat is short now.

[Louise and Toby]

Yes, I think maybe more off the ears and I think I'll try out letting his topknot grow out and maybe it will flop over and give him a cute new look. It'll be an experiment!

[GBK]

Toby looks a lot like my Buddy with all those curls. I like his head in this picture, I keep the hair shorter around the sides of his eyes and keep the muzzle hair in more of a mustache because it just won't lay down right. It just seems to grow out instead. I also blend the head into the ears, but I like to see his eyes. Here is a link to a really nice set of shears and thinners, it is worth the money, they cut like butter :)

http://www.kenchii.com/grooming/GroomingSite.html
Go to the Kenchi Collection and then click on the super sets. There is a scorpion set on sale for 226.00 that includes two shears, a thinner and the leather case to hold them.

[Louise and Toby]

Oh that Buddy is one curly boy too! He looks great in this picture. We have the same muzzle issue!
I did work on the ears some more - now we'll see what happens if I let the top grow some - maybe it will flop over.

I love those curls when they form into little macaronis - I thought about naming Toby "Mac-a-roo" but my sweetheart got to name him and he chose Toby.

Thanks too for the link for the scissors, etc. I'm going to try and order them! Did I say we have a GOLDEN-doodle? We do!

[GBK]

Thank you, I love those macaroni curls too, they are so unique :)

You did a great job on Toby, I really like it! The more you do it, the easier it gets, and a good scissors helps sooo much. In that kit I was telling you about, the curved scissors are my favorite for the head, it really gives great contour to their head compared to the straight scissors.

[Noble Vestal Labradoodles]

AH when I look at your pooch I see poodle because of the cut on the head not the ears. The hair on the head was cut and disconnected from the ears if that makes sense... it looks like the ears are stuck to the side of his head vs being part of the head. See Barb's first pic of Hugo, the hair on the top of his head falls over onto the ears and the total head is round. Very similar to how a Bichon head is cut.