Royal Diamond Youtube videos

[Stephanie and Ragley]

I want to groom Ragley myself and all you home-groomers on here have definitely given me plenty of inspiration and encouragement to feel confident that I can accomplish this task with a little practice! So as I quickly approach the time to whip out some scissors, I have been doing tons of reading and trying to dig up how-to videos as far as scissor cutting. One of the video series that I found was done by a woman at Royal Diamond Labradoodles. She has a whole series on grooming a doodle and, for the most part, I feel they are pretty informative. I don't agree with all of the methods or finished looks of the cuts (everyone grooms their dog differently- we're allowed to like different "looks"), but she maintains the "shag" and I do like that part of it. I think she teaches in a way that is easy to understand and helps simplify the process. All the comments on her videos are so awful, though! People are SO MEAN on the internet these days! Holy cow! I know that there are a lot of doodle haters out there (calling them stupid mutts, overpriced mutts, everything negative imaginable about her mutt) and then there are just plain haters as well. A lot of them criticize her "dangerous" methods of scissor cutting the dog and how she is being so irresponsible etc. I was definitely not struck with that feeling when watching the videos and I think I will probably employ some of her methods when doing my cutting, so I'm just wondering if anyone else out there has watched these videos and can help explain to me how she is being so "cruel" to the dog? Am I missing something? Maybe naive and ignorant me is just totally clueless, but I like to think I'm not...

[Julie and Max]

Stephanie I watch her videos too and I liked them and thought they were really informative. Mind you I'm like you and just venturing into doing grooming myself, but I didn't see anything dangerous, okay looking over them quickly again, I didn't like how she scissor cut near the eyes and it did seem like she was pointing those scissors right at the eyes when she couldn't see them because she had pulled the hair up, but that's the only thing I see.

[Brenda Silva]

I groom my Doodles and have been for 5 years.  I didnt see anything so bad.  Maybe the cleaning the ears to such a degree but for the most part this is what I do.

[Rosella T]

I plan on grooming my doodle myself too. I bought a set of clippers though, thinking that is what I would need. I had a schnoodle for over 16 years and I started grooming him myself in between visits to the groomer. However, Chico (the schnoodle) had a very fine coat. It actually was more like hair than a coat. He was completely non-shedding and because his "hair" was so fine he was pretty easy to groom and a cheap clipper from the pharmacy was all I needed. Now of course I have invested in a professional clipper and I am questioning that decision. 

Anyway, as for the videos I didn't really see anything cruel happening there but honestly people really are mean on the internet. Anonymity seems to give some people a license to be really nasty. You could write a blog post about anything and no matter how innocent you think it is - it could be an essay about how much you like lime popsicles - and people will lash out with vitriol and foul language. I'm sure you'd have people commenting about how anyone who likes lime popsicles is and idiot and how if you eat them you're probably fat and draining the medical system etc etc. It's pretty unbelievable how mean the comments sections are in every article posted on line nowadays. I kind of wish comments sections were disabled permanently. I wouldn't miss them. Really, we don't need to know what some misanthrope in Arkansas is thinking (no offense to Arkansas, it was just an example.)

Anyway, I'm sure you will do a great job grooming your doodle! He sure is cute! I love his color. I think my little puppy might turn out the same color as Ragley. :)

[Michele & Kallie]

I didnt see anything that really alarmed me.I dont remember the ears part but my vet told me not to pluck the ears anyway.I also enjoyed the GroomingSully you tube videos.

[Stephanie and Ragley]

I really like those videos also and use the line brushing method, but I don't think I'll be using clippers so that is why I was searching for the scissor method. The grooming Sully series is wonderful though!

[Diane, Hurley and Sidney]

I agree that people can be very mean.  Babbie, of Royal Diamond Labradoodles, goes to all the time and trouble to make the videos for anyone to use.  People have choices and options.  Criticizing someone else's desire to help others always has me shaking my head.  Plus has me wondering if those criticizing are such experts why don't they make their on videos and post them on the Internet.  It is so easy to make cruel and inappropriate statements when you are not face to face with the person.  I cannot help but wonder what these same people would say to Babbie in person or how they would feel about anyone criticizing their grooming techniques.  

I don't groom Hurley myself because I don't have the facilities to do so.  However, I have gone through Babbie's videos several times as they helped to articulate how I want Hurley groomed when I take him to the groomers.  

Just to clarify we got Hurley from Royal Diamond Labradoodles as did our son get his doodle from her.  

[Stephanie and Ragley]

I couldn't agree more. She doesn't seem to be "harming" the dog in any way and does a good job of simplifying the process for the general doodle population. People can be so cruel

[Carolyn Shusterman]

Babbie of Royal Diamond is a honest and refreshing person.  She honestly goes out of her way to help anyone that requests information.  Lots of grooming styles and she demonstrates oneway beautifully.  Babbie gave me the courage to groom Hershey and Hershey has never complained!  Thank you Babbie!

[Stephanie and Ragley]

It is comforting to hear all of your responses! I like the series and find the videos to be very informative and didn't see anything wrong with them so I'm glad I wasn't missing something! It's just cruel people being mean for no reason. Very unfortunate for someone who obviously put a lot of effort into trying to help people. I hope she ignores all of them and sees this instead- a thread in which everyone enjoys and is grateful for the help.

[Jen, Lachlan, and Declan]

Huh. Okay, as a professional groomer for many years, and having not seen her videos before, I just went and watched the Trimming Bangs and the Grooming Between the Eyes videos out of curiosity. I certainly didn't see anything dangerous in what she demonstrated - she's using short (far shorter than I ever use, but then I was trained on and am comfortable with an 8.5" shear) blunt-tipped scissors and she's using her fingers as a guide for the scissors on the bangs, which places her hand between the scissors and the eyes.

I don't much care for her techniques but that's a personal esthetic thing. (For example, I never use a clipper blade between their eyes unless I'm actually shaving the whole face - thinning shears all the way, baybee, LOL.) You'll learn as you go what you like and don't like and you'll learn different techniques to change what you don't like.

And I thought that the nasty negative comments were pretty much just trolling by nasty negative people.

Ragley is adorable and you won't hurt him by following her instructions.

[Marie Dennen]

I really am not a fan of the Royal Diamond videos. I'm a groomer too. The one with the hand scissoring all over is the video I am most familiar with. While it is a very nice presentation, I personally don't find it useful. I don't like how she doesn't go into bathing and brushing. The dog she uses is not combed out. I never start scissoring until my doodles are completely combed out, it has to glide through the coat like butter. It's just very minimal info for the inexperienced person to start scissoring and it makes me nervous for the dog's safety.I have used Learn2groomdogs.com off and on for sometime. It is more geared to the professional but if someone was motivated they could easily get a month's subscription ,watch enough videos to learn some basics and get it together to groom their doodle. My one critique of Learn2groom is it can be hard to search for a specific topic or video. But they do provide support. It was started by Melissa Verplank who wrote "Notes from the Grooming table" considered on the the top reference books in the industry. One of my thoughts seeing Royaldiamond video is it was kind of a shame she didn't utilize an experienced professional groomer or a certified master groomer, it would really lend to her credibility. It is an issue in the industry that there is very little regulation and just about anyone can pick up a pair of scissors and call themselves a groomer. I don't agree with people bashing her but I did see some comments from people I actually recognized in the industry, some were really mean, others I thought were correcting some misinformation she was in fact giving out. For instance, she does state the dog does not shed, it molts. All dogs shed it's just a matter of how much, low, medium, high. A breeder saying a doodle molts is kind of like a used car salesman saying it not used , it's pre-owned. I have commiserated with enough fellow groomers to know that many have stories of doodle owners coming in for the very first groom presenting a severely matted ,even pelted dog and the reason for the condition of the dog was that the breeder said they only needed to be groomed twice a year. When you see enough dogs suffering because of misinformation put out by breeders.I think groomers tend to be hypercritical of doodle breeders for this reason and some of the nastiness is actually a release of frustration as well. Food for thought, I tend to play devil's advocate. Thanks to anyone who read, I know it was long. May all your doodles be delightful and gorgeous.

[Stephanie and Ragley]

I do agree with you on many of the points you make. I am fortunate enough to have stubbled upon a site such as DK and have done my research so I take for granted that bathing, drying, brushing, and combing would all be steps I would take, but Babbie did not specifically mention. I see your point there. I also raised an eyebrow each time she used the term "molt". I think it is a shame to perpetuate the unrealistic universal standard that "all doodles don't shed." Every time someone asks me about Ragley's shedding, I am sure to remind them that there is no such thing as a zero shedding dog-- heck, even I shed (and definitely more than Ragley!). To coin it as "molting" (birds?) seems petty and a little strange- they shed.
So, with that being said, I definitely see your point, but I believe that for ME as a semi-informed individual as far as proper coat care and preparation, the videos were useful because they give me the confidence to believe it is a task I can manage with a little practice and courage.
Thank you for playing devil's advocate- I truly mean it. I, too, enjoy that role so I can appreciate your point of view and I thank you for bringing up extremely valid points.