Doodle Grooming

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A chance to ask a professional groomer for advice.

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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 Kimberly Cook on August 29, 2015 at 10:25pm: Yes, sorry, that was meant to be a joke. :) I did find the video amusing. Chopper would have none of that I'm sure.

Comment by Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo on August 29, 2015 at 4:32pm: Nancy: I'm pretty sure Kimberely was " kidding " ;)

Comment by Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie on August 29, 2015 at 4:29pm: This would NEVER work with any of my dogs. The noise alone would scare them into finding a hiding place. I don't see what it accomplishes, if anything.

Comment by Wanda Klomp on August 28, 2015 at 12:20am: That doesn't seem to do anything, least of all remove tangles and mats ;-)

Comment by Kimberly Cook on August 27, 2015 at 10:58pm: Here we go! I've solved all our problems. Flowbee grooming. /:)

Comment by Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie on August 27, 2015 at 10:31pm: Kimberly, I do not groom either of my doodles. I am not competent to do so - truly! When my daughter was very young she let her bangs grow out because I cut them so crookedly each and every time! I have a groomer that I love who is not expensive and works very hard to cut my dogs the way I want them to be cut.

Comment by Wanda Klomp on August 27, 2015 at 3:02am: That's great Kimberley. Everybody has doubts in the beginning. That's normal :-) But I teach them step by step and they can all do it. I do it to empower women and make them independant of groomers and help them take the wellbeing of their Doodle in to their own hands. And enjoy their Doodle live even more. It's so rewarding to do it yourself. And super fun and very mindful :-) Every owner should learn to groom their own Labradoodle I think. Also perfect to build a strong bond based on mutual trust and teamwork. And for leadership skills. Hi hi I am a life coach too, so I see a lot of benefits for self development. I am sure you are experiencing the same thing :-)

Comment by Kimberly Cook on August 26, 2015 at 11:37pm: Wanda I would like to one day be able to fully groom him myself. I'm afraid I would do a terrible job on him the first few times. ;) This group has been very helpful in teaching me the basics and buying the right/best tools.

Comment by Wanda Klomp on August 26, 2015 at 11:14pm: Oh wow Kimberly, he really has a fluffy plush coat. Very tangle sensitive indeed. Most groomer don't know how to groom a Labradoodle coat. That's a worldwide problem and it's why I teach owners to do it themselves professionally, in a natural looking, fluffy way. I am glad that you found a groomer that you trust him with :-)

Comment by Kimberly Cook on August 26, 2015 at 9:12pm: Hurley is such a stately handsome boy. Chopper has fleece envy. I will be enjoying brushing him only 2 times a week instead of 5. He will go back to curly hair once he inevitably falls in the pool this weekend. ;)

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