Doodle Grooming

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Coat types

Doodles come in three main coat types. Wool, fleece and hair. If you consider a woolly wool coat to be at one end of a scale and shedding coarse hair coats to be at the other end, your doodle could have a coat anywhere in-between. Not only that...it could be a combination of more than one type. Coats can also be very curly, somewhat curly, spiral curls, wavy or quite straight.

Hint for maintaining your favourite look.

You will find lots of pictures on this site of great looking doodles. Use them to take to your groomer to show what look you like or use them to follow for home grooming.

Coat Change from Puppy to Adult
Somewhere between 8 and 12 months doodles start growing their adult coats. Matte time! Since they don't shed, you need to comb the puppy coat out. This takes quite a bit of dedication and this stage can go on for several months. If you let your puppy mat at this time and resort to shaving, you STILL HAVE TO DEAL WITH THE PROBLEM. You cannot shave it away. At some point, you must comb that puppy coat out. To make this stage easier, scissor the coat to about 2 inches in length so there is less to tangle. A seriously good way to reduce brushing is to buy a high speed blower. It produces cool air at high volume and really helps clean and untangle the coat.

Combing your doodle.
Use a steel comb. Start from one foot and brush..yes brush with a brush..the hair up. Then start down at the foot again and brush down in layers, making sure to always get to see the skin in the area you are working on before you go on. After about and inch or two, comb where you brushed. If the comb won't go thru, start again. Work thru the whole coat in this fashion.
Make sure you hit all the areas.
inside, outside and back and front of legs
upper and lower chest
sides, back and under tail
top of head and neck all the way around
under ears, chin and face
If a wool dog is very matted, it can take 10 hours to demat. If you have a fleece coat that is in good shape, it should take an hour or less to brush and comb the whole dog thoroughly.
Worst trouble spots: in front of hind legs, armpits, under tail and neck

To Do List for regular maintenance.
1. brush and comb twice a week or when ever you feel mattes ..dampen after brushing
These things to be done every 4 to 6 weeks
2. trim hair from between eyes as required to keep it from poking into the eyes
3. shave belly
4. trim hair from around anus and on male or female parts to prevent messy mattes that can get infected from bacteria
5. clip nails
6. trim feet ...inside of feet, around toes and trim length so it just barely touches the ground.
7. trim hair above eyes so it does not obstruct sight
8. pull hair from inside ears and clean with ear cleaning solution
9. shave hair from base of ear to increase airflow into the ear

Links to Grooming Information from this forum.

coming

How to trim feet
You can trim feet with scissors or clippers. I prefer to use a combination of both. I first cup the dog's foot in my hand so the bottom is visible and keeping my scissors flat to the bottom of the foot, I trim all hair sticking beyond the foot. Next I take my clipper with a number 10 or 40 and trim inside between the large pad the the small toe pads. From the top of the foot looking down, I pull a hair back from toes and scissor hair from around nails and between toes. You can to this with a clipper too and make 'poodle toes'...not to be confused at all with poodle feet. You want the foot to have lots of volume from the top, but look clean underneath.

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Comment by F, Calla & Luca on March 24, 2015 at 8:39pm: He looks great!

Comment by Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie on March 24, 2015 at 8:18pm: My son's Junior got groomed Saturday. He keeps him fairly short.

Comment by Patti Livanos on March 22, 2015 at 9:13pm: The ActiVet brush is available in the U.S. through Groomers Helper & Amazon.

Comment by Debb, Lucy & Oscar on March 22, 2015 at 8:25pm: Minda & Callie, when you say she always comes back from the groomer brushed so nicely, are you referring to the 'blow out', leaving the coat like velvet? If so, what most groomers use when using a high velocity dryer is a regular slicker brush, not an Activet brush. The Activet is great for line-brushing before bathing and getting all the mats out, but its not what leaves the coat velvety soft after the bath. I use a Lawrence Tender Care Slicker brush, but after doing a quick search I see its difficult to find in the states. Its made in England.

Comment by Kathy Miller on March 22, 2015 at 5:48pm: I have three different doodles with completely different coats and I'm using the purple on one side and the red on the other combo and it works good on all of them. It works especially well on the one with the tight curly poodle coat. If I were to pick one color, I would go with the purple. These brushes are amazing!

Comment by Shari Becker on March 22, 2015 at 5:19pm: My groomer recently had me brush a poodle's hair and Lexi's hair after. I can't say if this is true for all poodles or all doodles, but the poodle's hair is very different up close, even though they look similar. The poodle's coat was coarser and wiry, and it was actually easier to comb through than Lexi's super soft doodle hair, which is finer and matts much easier. I think our groomer used a red or purple activet on Lexi.

Comment by Patti Livanos on March 22, 2015 at 5:14pm: Minds & Callie--I am not sure. One thing I can share is my pups' best friends are standard poodles who live across the street. I gave them my green brushes when I got my purple ones & the green is working fine for them. I noticed that eventually that using the green brush, all of a sudden the brushing was becoming laborious for me & that's when I switched to the purple. It was what needed to happen & it was pretty easy again. I'm not sure how to tell in advance, perhaps if you read all about the brushes and/or talk to them at groomer's helper, you will have a better idea... I know the brushes are expensive, but they last forever, are good to the coat & get everything out.

Comment by Minda and Callie on March 22, 2015 at 4:22pm: Thanks Patti. I see that I probably should have started a discussion instead of posting here so I appreciate your reply! Callie's (who is two) hair is curly, very poodle like but I don't consider it thick. It stays pretty unmatted with the length I keep it. I have wanted to try the ActiVet but didn't know which one would be the right one. She hates me brushing her hair, acts like I am hurting her. Do you still think the purple one is the way to go?

Comment by Patti Livanos on March 22, 2015 at 2:37pm: Minda and Callie--I use a Les Pooches brush which is so great and gets everything out w/line brushing. They are just about impossible to find right now--do not get the one on Amazon because that brush is not a real Les Pooches. What IS available now is the European version of Les Pooches called ActiVet. I believe you can get that through Groomer's Helper. Start w/the green for puppies, and if you have thick hair, like my baxter, upgrade to purple. It comes in a small and wide version. I like the small one because I feel I have more control w/it, but use the wide on the body to make the job go a little faster

Comment by Minda and Callie on March 22, 2015 at 11:58am: I have a doodle with curly hair. She always comes back from the groomer brushed so nicely and what I have just doesn't do the job. Can you share your favorite brush and or comb that is good with a poodle coat? Most of the posts I searched were old. Thanks for your help :)

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