Doodle Grooming

Information

A place to discuss grooming issues.

A chance to ask a professional groomer for advice.

A place to start discussions that will be of interest to the many fledgling groomers here. Be sure to add tags!

Members: 2080
Latest Activity: Aug 14, 2019

Favorite

106 members favorited this

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.

Discussion Forum

View All

Comment Wall

Comment

You need to be a member of Doodle Grooming to add comments!

Comment by Loreta Janca on March 16, 2009 at 7:39am: Hi Jelane!
You know, I had to have Rusty shaved last week, and as much as I dreaded it, it's not so bad. It will grow back. My groomer and talked a long time about my options, and what she could do to try to save his coat, but in the end, some of the matts were too close to his skin, and it just had to be done. It's not like a surgical shave, where you see the skin. More like a really short haired lab, or maybe a chiuaua. ALready in one week you can tell it's growing back. I just told here to do what she could, but in the end, to do what had to be done. Now I'll start over and make sure I'm combing his fur in addition to brushing it. Don't stress too much, it's not the worst thing. I was sick just like you at the thought, but he turned out ok, actually. Cute in his own, half naked way! Good Luck.

Comment by Noble Vestal Labradoodles on March 15, 2009 at 7:45pm: hey guys! helpful hint in using this forum. If you start a discussion (see grey bar just above my comment, above that is the area to start a discussion!!!) you can better follow topics and discussions and when someone replies to your topic you get notified.

Comment by Jelane Hurst on March 15, 2009 at 5:42pm: Barb, thanks so much for your reply. I will contact Kendra, but I think she goes to the same groomer place I go to. (If I am thinking about the same person) Just bought a Les Pooches brush that was delivered last Friday. Thought this was a help...even asked the groormer if she had ever used a Les Pooches brush....she only said that they have their own grooming brushes.
Mocha's rear end IS matted and also arouhd her collar area, but I wa hoping that the rest of her coat could be "saved". Legs are a bit matted, but I thought they were not that bad. I have been out of town and have not brushed her as I usually do, but when I came home and have attended to her, I was able to get rid of some of the mats, however the next day they seemed to have returned :-(
Again, I really appreciated you quick responce ... thanks
Jelane

Comment by Barb @ Gemstone Labradoodles on March 15, 2009 at 12:41pm: Hi Jelane
You can do a couple of things. You could contact Kendra of Noble Vestal's Labradoodles and ask her where her groomer is. She is in your area and has a page on this site.
When I get a matted dog, I scissor the loose hair on the top that doesn't look matted and then start brushing with my Les Poochs brushes and working with the brush and a comb, I work my way around the dog and then trim off the high parts that appeared after the brushing is done. If the dog is due to be shaved anyway, you have nothing to lose. If the mattes are tight to the skin or look like 'felt' in their appearance, it really is too late to save the coat. Sorry.

Comment by Jelane Hurst on March 15, 2009 at 12:24pm: Just got back from talking to a groomer.....I am almost sick to my stomach because the groomer said she would shave Mocha even down to where you can see the skin.... I didn't think she was that matted. She is shedding a great deal, but I still don't like the thought of shaving her. The groomer said that brushing her etc, would break her hairs and that would not be good....Made an appointment for Tues. the 17th of March, but am thinking about getting another opinion before the shave. Any thoughts or suggestions anyone. I saw one doodle shaved at the same place and I thought it was horrible and said I would not let that happen to Mocha,,,,,
Hoping to hear from someone SOON as time is Tuesday is day after tomarrow. Does anyone know a groomer that I could go to for a second opinion in the Nobles, Carmel, Fishers area in Indiana?

Comment by Leslie and Halas on March 13, 2009 at 1:30pm: I don't think that pic is a nightmare, but that is more of a poodle look. If you don't want the nose like that, I think you could still see Noah's eyes without getting his nose shaved. If the "eyebrows" are trimmed back, and they just shave a tiny bit right under the eyes, I think you'd be able to see his eyes really well without shaving the whole face.

Comment by Sandie & Matilda on March 13, 2009 at 10:26am

Comment by Barb @ Gemstone Labradoodles on March 12, 2009 at 9:27pm: Re Pulling Hair in Ears: Most, but not all doodles, get hair growing inside their ears. If this gets too dense, it stops air flow in the ears which is bad for ear health. It gives a warm moist environment for yeast infections. To avoid this problem, use an ear plucking powder and using your fingers or locking pullers, pull the hair from inside the ears. It is not well rooted, so will pull out easily. Finish with a good ear cleaner and wipe inside the ear. The dog's eardrum is quite far down, but still be careful you don't put tools where you can't see them.

Comment by Paul & Michele on March 12, 2009 at 9:02pm: This is what we started with

Comment by Paul & Michele on March 12, 2009 at 9:00pm: ok that seemed to work I didn't think I was doing it right here is a couple more I just took them real quick in the backyard tonight

‹ Previous
1
…
283
284
285
286
287
…
297
Next ›

Doodle Grooming

Information

Coat types

Discussion Forum

Nail Dremel

koda

First grooming

Need a two inch attachment comb for my Andis Ultra Edge Clippers

Snout grooming question

Greenville, SC groomer recs

First haircut ideas for shaggy puppy

basic step by step way to groom an australian labradoodle

Seasonal undercoat removal in long coat

Ear trimming

Bridge of the nose

regular barber clippers

Recommended Shampoos for Black Coats

Grooming Table Recommendations

How long is too long?

bath hose set up

question regarding grooming - what to request for our puppy?

Naples FL. Groomer search

clipping around puppy's eyes

Is it the color?

Comment Wall

You need to be a member of Doodle Grooming to add comments!

Members (2080)

DK - Amazon Search Widget