Doodle Grooming

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A place to discuss grooming issues.

A chance to ask a professional groomer for advice.

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Latest Activity: Aug 14, 2019

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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 c zoomer on September 1, 2017 at 5:10am: Chee! I need to vent. My perfect pup is overly sensitive to any sort of grooming. It's taken me this long to work on trust...all I did was snip off a bit of bangs above one eye. No pulling, nothing...and she started turning her head so I couldn't continue. I got one more snip in and wanted to trim above the other eye and she moved away. Yesterday when I began detangling mats she headed for a safe spot. The plan was to have a daily routine for grooming. Ok, I'm feeling better having said all this.

She has a very strong sense of self and it's taken 8 months for her to cuddle. She's back on my lap again, after heading off...and I hate to do any grooming when she does this.

Thank goodness she lets me brush the surface. Better than nothing. I'm keeping my fingers crossed...heck I think I need prayer that all of this will resolve when the full shed is in progress.

Comment by Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie on August 31, 2017 at 6:17pm: You are welcome. I really like Cowboy Magic for specific matts and Horse Mane 'N Tail for overall detangling. There are many other products out there that work, these are just the ones I have found work best for me. Ned has a high maintenance coat that constantly mats.

Comment by c zoomer on August 31, 2017 at 6:59am: Thank you Nancy, that's just the info I needed. So often, we (me included) mention a product without further info. This is the first time I'm reading what the product is like so I know what to expect. I'll try to do the same if I mention something like this.

Comment by Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie on August 30, 2017 at 7:44pm: Spray them with detangler, let it sit and try to gently brush/comb out. If the mat is just not coming out, take a pair of small scissors and make several slices through the mat - going from the skin outward the way the hair grows, then brush comb again. If the mat is in a specific area, I have found that Cowboy Magic which is like Vaseline, works best. Put it on the mat, make sure it gets into it, let it sit for a bit, then work on getting it out.

When a dog is brushed, especially the curlier ones, they poof out. If you don't like that poof, you can spritz the coat with water and scrunch it to calm the poof down.

Comment by c zoomer on August 30, 2017 at 1:46pm: In the grooming instructions it mentions dampening after brushing. Is that to restore a bit of the curve to the coat? or another purpose?

Comment by Leslie, Yogi & Maci Bear on August 30, 2017 at 10:20am: I wouldn't just leave them. A matt can get painful for a dog

Comment by c zoomer on August 30, 2017 at 7:08am: Big decision. Dinah is just coming up on the puppy coat change. There is just the tinyist bit of shed when I brush her. I was too confident that she wouldn't get mats because I never found any. Well, I found some doozies right at the edge of her ears. Can I spray on a detangler onto a dry coat, or is it necessary to to wet it down.? Any other techniques for this area is greatly appreciated.

Also, since she objects to the attention in this area, and it's not a "movement" area...what would be the results if I just let them go until the shedding experience is over, shave it and regrow without the daily brushing?

Comment by Doodle Dad on August 26, 2017 at 4:20pm: Kristen,
Get him used to you brushing him by starting out slowly. Work with him for short periods of time gradually working up to longer times.
Also a good brush for our dogs is the "les pooch" brush. They are not cheap but work very well.
http://www.doodlecountry.com/les-poochs-brushes-.html
Good luck.

Comment by Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie on July 22, 2017 at 6:09pm: Kristen, there are lots of discussions about grooming here - browse through for some general information. Post a discussion here so others can address your question directly. His coat is going through the transition to his adult coat. There are brushes, combs, and grooming products that help you get the mats out - ask that in your discussion. Ask others what they use - as brushes, as de-matting products, and grooming tools, and you will get a variety of answers to help you choose

Comment by Kristen on July 22, 2017 at 5:25am: My doodle is 8 months old and for the first time is matting. He is usually pretty good for me while I brush him but the last few weeks has been acting up and won't let me brush under his belly or his legs. Of course the parts that need it most. I just dropped him by the groomer this morning but would love to be able to groom him myself. How do you get a puppy to sit and let you groom him? -- Also, he's great for his bath but absolutely HATES to be dried. I would appreciate any advice you can give!

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