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 KATHY FITZGIBBONS on June 27, 2017 at 10:52pm: Any Suggestions for a Doodle Groomer near the Atlanta Georgia Area? Thank You!

Comment by C&L on October 29, 2016 at 1:43pm: Some poodle friends have been telling me to buy Chris Christensen's Kook Dryer and I was terrified when I saw the price. That was about $500 and the cheaper units are over $300. I paid under $200 for this Flying Pig dryer. I'm excited about my new toy.

Comment by Cindy and Olive (Ollie) on October 29, 2016 at 9:28am: C&L - can't believe you just posted this, as I just finished blow drying O with this same dryer for the first time!! It really cut down the drying time, which is great. I had a hard time spending this much on a doggy dryer, but it will pay off over time.

Comment by C&L on October 29, 2016 at 8:20am: Best investment ever!

Comment by Puppy Love on August 29, 2016 at 5:10pm: Didn't read all the comments someone may of already suggested Cowboys Magic. It cost about 16. For a gel size tube but it truly is magic. Wash then brush immediately. Use dime size gel to brush out mats. It takes patients and a couple of hours to wash and brush at home. I do prefer groomer. But when I want his coat to grow long it requires some tlc.

Comment by Cheryl M Nemith on August 17, 2016 at 6:30pm: Thank you guys for the encouraging thoughts. It's been a week and she finally seems to be back to her same playful self. I will be sure to post as she grows!

Comment by Ricki and Tara (doodle) on August 17, 2016 at 4:39pm: Cheryl I'm so sorry for your grooming experience and that is exactly why I groom Tara myself now. I too thought the groomer was giving me the wrong dog! But Tara knew ME! LOL Just a horrible experience. At least this happened during the summer so she doesn't have to wear a coat! I agree with Nancy, it won't take long for her to get some length back to her coat.

Comment by Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie on August 13, 2016 at 8:06pm: Cheryl, depending upon how shaved you really mean, I'd say she will look adorable in a month.

Comment by Cheryl M Nemith on August 12, 2016 at 6:54pm: If you can groom your Doodle yourself I say do it! We took our beautiful girl to be groomed yesterday with pictures, and clear instructions. We thought they gave us someone else's dog. I have been close to tears every time I look at her but am trying to be upbeat for her sake. She is so down, and looks so sad. Can anyone tell me how long it will take for her "shaved" coat to grow out? I can tell you she will never go back to that place!!

Comment by debbie stevenson on August 6, 2016 at 7:27am: Where can I find shaws paw wax?

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