Curious, WHY can't you cut out the puppy coat?

[Camilla and Darwin]

I have been steeling myself for the dreaded coat change and have been thinking about this a lot. I have read that you have to pull the coat out and you can't fix it by simply shaving it off. I believe it, but I want to know, why is that? Why isn't cutting it off going to remove the puppy hair? Just wondering, and any answers would be very appreciated!

[Susan Crespo]

I'm interested to know about this to! When does the coat change happen anyway? My pup is 6 months and I haven't really noticed anything.

[Susan Crespo]

All how do you pull the coat out?

[Kyoko]

I have been wondering about this, too.....Mine is a year old. I have to be very careful because she gets matted!!! It started around 8 ~ 9 months old or so, I want to say.....

[Adina P]

I see NO reason you can't trim the coat so that you skip the coat 'change'. If you keep your doodle trimmed very short through the period the 'coat change' is supposed to happen, it should work pretty well. I mean, it doesn't remove the puppy coat, but cuts off the puppy coat that is there so then there's no issues.

[Camilla and Darwin]

That's what confused me. It seems as though you could just continuously trim the coat down to 1/2 or 1 inch until the coat change is over, yet the things I have heard in this group seem to say it will delay the process... or set you back. on the very front page of this group in the info it says that very thing.

"Somewhere between 8 and 12 months doodles start growing their adult coats. Matt 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 matt 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."

This just doesn't make sense to me... perhaps I am missing something. I don't know.

[Barb @ Gemstone Labradoodles]

Yes, it is a puzzle. All I can tell you is what the founder of the Australian Labradoodle wrote (sorry have the link). She said the puppy coat grows in the same hair follicle and continues to grow unless pulled out.
My personal experience has shown this to be true. I got a doodle imported from Australia when he was 15 months old. He had never had a haircut. I struggled with his 10 inch coat for a while...just couldn't do it. At the time I didn't know about having to pull out the puppy coat. No one ever did on this boy. Finally I ended up shaving him, but his coat developed the same problems. That's when I started doing some research and found out about pulling the puppy coat. That's why shaving him at 2 didn't work and I had to deal with the puppy coat at 2 1/2. Puppies that I have kept and managed the coats have been finished this stage by 16 to 18 months. All have been thru the same process at about the same time. I have raised about 20 dogs thru this stage.
My f1 was different and went thru the stages a bit less. She matted at 5 months and not all that much after, but she has a mildly shedding hair/fleece coat so that must make a difference.
Below is my boy Hugo when he was still in Australia with his huge coat. He was really skinny under all that hair.

[Camilla and Darwin]

Well then I guess my question would be, is there a good way to actually pull the coat out? Should I simply brush and comb through him every day, or can I get a rake or other tool to actually take the undercoat out? I know at the grooming shop I worked at we would use rakes to pull the undercoat out of huskies, labs, etc to reduce shedding. Could this same tool be used, or is it a completely different thing?

That is interesting about the hair follicles, I hadn't thought of that. Thanks for the info!

[Camilla and Darwin]

Okay, I think it makes sense now. It's like a weed. You can't just cut off the top, you've got to pull it out from the roots...

[Barb @ Gemstone Labradoodles]

good analogy!!!!... I am going to use that one

[Kyoko]

OK. I get it now. It really make sense now. Thank you....

[Dianne Carter ~ Trinity Doodles]

Like Barb I do not know that I understand this completely, but I can share some of our observations as well. I have a 2 1/2 year old stud that has a mostly fleece, slight combo coat, he matted near coat change and we trimmed very short. Upon growing in he seemed to lighten and develop an odd texture to his coat almost fuzzy like. Certain his coat was changing we just kind of accepted this. Recently in complying with our house 'TV rule' (kids cannot watch tv unless they have a dood and a brush/comb on their lap ~ the alternative option is folding socks =0) ~ the 2 legged kiddos have been more inclined to brush. With vigorous brushing the changed coat that we thought we were destined to keep seems to be reverting back to his former and darker coat. He has been trimmed multiple times and yet this remained in the past, it has only been with an increase in brushing Micah as the puppies depart leaving less 4 legged tv viewing opportunities that we have seemed to finally remove this. I would speculate that even if the hair did not come from the same follicle, it certainly does come from a follicle that would seem to require removal in order to not grow that particular type of hair out of it any longer.

[Laura & Chewie]

If I am understanding this correctly, adult hair grows from different follicles than puppy hair? Puppy hair and adult hair growing at the same time equals matting. So, at some point I assume the puppy hair stops growing out...only the adult hair and that's when the process is finished or becomes easier in terms of matting.

Chewie is 8 months and I also have been anxiously waiting and watching for the "horror" to begin...LOL.