Shave down - how long to grow back?

[Kami Allen]

My poor Meggie doodle was nothing but matts!  I was working on her for 2 hours a day at least, I spoke to our breeder and she said it was proably because she was getting her adult coat and mixing in with her puppy coat.  Never had a problem with matts before so I'm assuming that was it.  I brought her to the groomer and she ended up pretty much shaving her down.....she has so fluff on the ears and tails and that's about it.  My kids are calling her "rat dog" because she looks like a drowned rat now :(  I put a sweater on her to keep her warm, but I think she's embarrassed....she keeps looking at me like "Mom, I know I don't look cute now". 

Just curious on how long it takes for her coat to grow back in - did anyone else experience this issue with matts and have success after taking off the puppy coat?

~ Kami and naked Meggie doodle (aka - rat dog)

[Kami Allen]

So cute, looks very similar in color to our Meggie!

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

I thought the same thing when I saw Meggie!! 

[Leslie, Dexter & Kirby]

Dexter matts pretty badly too and we have the groomer shave him down about 3 times a year.  I really think it helps because otherwise I feel like we are fighting matts all the time.  Dex's hair grows pretty quickly and within a month he looks much more doodle like again.  I find that I enjoy both the shorter and longer look.  The shorter look is 0 work (no brushing needed and it's much easier to keep him clean).  Dexter also has much more energy once we get him cut so I think he prefers to have no hair.

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

I agree, Tara seemed to really enjoy being short coated too. She became really bouncy!! And I have to admit it was SO nice not to have to brush her every day!!

[Becky & Sheeba]

This is Sheeba, she is 2 yrs old. When she was 6 months had to have her clipped short. This photo is from this spring. Her coat is so curly and dense that it makes it hard to keep from matting when it's longer. During the winter months we let her coat grow out long. I would prefer to keep her coat long all year, but I know during the spring & summer it is better for her. Keeping her cooler and also keeping the grass seeds from embedding themselves into her coat.

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

And just look how beautiful Sheeba is!

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

Just so you know WE don't think she looks funny, she still looks adorable - just look at that face.

We never had to shave Daisy but we were aware of the coat change because our groomer reminded us when we took her in at 5 months for a clean up. After that we brushed and combed her constantly until the change was made. She used to have smoother hair, she now has curly fleece/wool, it's thick thick thick on her body.

Anyway it grows back really quickly as you can see from all the comments.

[Candy & Hudson]

Hudson was shaved down completely in October and his coat is already about 3 inches long!! I know how you feel, I was devastated when I seen him (I was not expecting it). He wasn't matting at the time, he was only 4 months old, but I think it has made it so much easier to keep his coat nice. Another plus- it grew in WAAAY softer than it had been! Its also super curly now :) I'm going to try to clip it to 2'' myself from now on!

Anyways, I think she still looks SOO cute!!

[ej]

The longest we have kept K's coat was about 5-6 inches long, and we had it shaved down to 1/2 inch when he was having his coat changed, major mats! He looked terrible, but I think he feels better each time his coat is trimmed.  We notice that he pants a lot less and does not drink as much.  It is warm and extremely humid all year round where we live, so it makes sense to us to keep his coat shorter.  These days we have is coat trimmed down to 1/2 inch once every 10-12 weeks.  So the longest it gets is about 2 inches in length after 3 months (his coat grows about 1/2 inch every month), and he does not mat anymore.  We keep his tail, ears and legs longer, about 4 inches long, and it does not mat.  So I think it is possible, once they are passed the coat change stage, the coat becomes more manageable even when it gets longer.  I use the undercoat rake to run through his tail, and legs probably once every 2 weeks now.  I tried to do it more often, but find it not necessary since he does not mat anymore.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Fudge mats a lot and we have to keep her coat short. She has had her share of "shave downs", but it grows pretty quickly. Meggie still is a cutie :)

[Sharon & Monty]

We have been down the shaved to the bone look too.  Very upsetting to say the least.  Monty was shaved to the bone the last week of Aug.  We've determined that he is growing around one inch per month!  So before you know it, you will have one hairy dood again.

[Sally]

duncan had a "rat dog" cut. Or as I like to call it "shaved lamb". It was the worst experience of my life. I cried!!!! But it grew back significantly in 2 weeks and then he looked really cute.
Here are a few pics showing the stages of shave back to normal