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 Serena Keating on February 9, 2009 at 8:30am: Keep us posted if you find one with rotating pins. I have one with long stationary pins that I really like for my thick coated dogs like collies, but don't use it too much on my doodle. You hit the nail on the head - much of grooming is finding what you like and works best with the individual coat - every Doodle is different! Another tool that I use on my own doodle is a 10 blade stripping tool. It has blades versus pins, teeth or bristle - so it is not to be used often. It comes in different widths between blades depending upon the texture, coarseness, and thickness of the coat.

Kate and Maci - the double row rake that I was referring to is in the PetEdge Catalog. It's a "Master Grooming Undercoat Rake, double row, item # TP25106, $9.99." One of my favorite tools in general. Although after a bunch of use, I have to glue to head back into the handle with some gorilla glue and then I'm set to go... I refer to PetEdge alot even though I have some issues with their stock levels because they are close enough that I can pick up items from their warehouse or get a delivery in 24rs, that is, if it's in stock...

Comment by Barb @ Gemstone Labradoodles on February 7, 2009 at 7:56pm: Sue
Slicker brushes are good for fluffing a coat, but not good enough to actually do much good to keep a doodle coat matt free. Les Poochs brushes are the only ones that I find work. I brush with a matzapper or purple brush, comb, then brush with a fine yellow brush. Last I comb one more time. Then I bathe.

Comment by Barb @ Gemstone Labradoodles on February 7, 2009 at 7:53pm: Serena, I absolutely agree that we breeders as a group need to inform our clients how to care for their doodle coats. Here is the thing, I have lots of breeders asking me to come and groom their breeding dogs. Many do not do their own grooming and are dissatisfied with the results at the groomers.
I went to grooming school to specifically learn how to care for my dogs before I bought them. I teach my new puppy owners about the coats as much as possible. I still have not been able to prevent some shave-downs, but then I almost never meet my owners because I ship the puppies all ovr North America.
I saw an opportunity to help more people than just my puppy owners when I joined DK and started this group.

Comment by Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*() on February 7, 2009 at 6:32pm: Thanks Barb, I used to be a hairstylist, so I think I'll start with the dirty coat scissor cut. (It's our little secret). I am going to "practice" on my daughters 70pd doodle this week. She's game, so I will at least try. I thought the slicker brushes were supposed to make the brush out easier, not more matted. So what is the best method to brush for keeping up with matts?

Comment by Serena Keating on February 7, 2009 at 2:16pm: I find Doodles to be one of the most labor intensive coats to groom. I would encourage breeders to educate their prospective families on how much time should be committed to taking care of a Doodle coat.

Comment by Barb @ Gemstone Labradoodles on February 7, 2009 at 2:09pm: Hello Serena
You are welcome to go on and on anytime. I love it that I am getting the support of professional groomers on this group. When I started it, I had now idea it would grow so fast. Thank you for your words of wisdom.

Lucy looks very doodly. I think she looks great.

Sue
I have 2 scissor cutting methods. The standard groomer's way I use on clean, dryer fluffed coats. [Dryer fluffing is a specific grooming technique]. Comb coat up or against direction of growth and scissor in direction of growth.
If you don't tell my grooming teacher, I will tell you on dirty coats I cut before brushing and hold the coat with my fingers and scissor like you do on people. I am writing a piece on my computer about this that I will transfer to the discussions when I am finished.

Comment by Serena Keating on February 7, 2009 at 10:10am: I am a groomer by profession and longtime doodle owner. The best thing you can do for your pup is brush and comb as much as possible! Use an undercoat rake and not a slicker brush to prevent mattin. I can't tell you how many owners have come to me and said don't shave the dog - but if you can't get any kind of tool through the coat, my philosophy is take it off and you have to promise to be diligent in taking care of the coat as it grows in. First and foremost, it's very painful to demat. Often the pup is too matted even to try. The coat may be nice at the top, it's near the skin you have to keep on top of. I shave my Doodle short once a year in the Spring because he is very sensitive to the heat and then we let it grow for the winter because he loves hanging outside. Please don't let your Doodle go without grooming - it's painful and can cause skin rashes! Thanks for letting me go on and on...

Comment by Barb @ Gemstone Labradoodles on February 5, 2009 at 8:49pm: That pop off thing always worries me..especially with a 40. Once I did cut a short stripe. Glad it was my dog and not someone elses.

Comment by Adina P on February 5, 2009 at 9:36am: I use the Andis ACG Pro 2 speed and it comes with the #10 blade as is. Barb will have to recommend other blades...I use one that trim to 3/4 inch, 1/2 inch and 3/8 inch.

Comment by Barb @ Gemstone Labradoodles on February 2, 2009 at 11:01am: Try this one http://www.petedge.com/home.jsp

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