Strongly considering giving Rooney his first trim- Crazy? Tips? Advice?

[Lori, Rooney & Zuzu]

Rooney is five months old and is not yet going through any sort of coat change that I can detect. His coat is a wavy fleece and he is very calm about being brushed and handled. He doesn't need his face, belly or paws trimmed right now because our wonderful pet nanny (who is a former dog groomer) took care of that when he stayed with her while we were on vacation. So, basically, I'm just considering giving his body his first trim.

He is not at all matted and, as I said, is fine getting bathed and brushed. I just think he is due to have about an inch taken off of his fluffy coat and I'd love to be able to just keep him home and do it myself. I have watched many, many videos online showing how to groom properly and have read everything I could find here at DK. Since it is only his body that needs to be trimmed, I'm thinking I would just use scissors which for whatever reason feel less daunting to me than clippers. I feel oddly confident that I could do this. Is that crazy? I mean, we've already established that I'm crazy (if you've read my blogs), but is this taking crazy to new heights?

My family is going to stage that puppy intervention yet... Let's keep this quiet, shall we? ;)

[Donna P.]

I'm in the same situation as you are. In fact, I could've written your post myself. And my Bayley looks almost identical to your Rooney. She just turned 6 months yesterday. I love her curly hair and don't want to cut it all off, but I could live with maybe an inch. And I, too, am much more comfortable with using scissors. I've been toying with the idea of taking a snip. I will be interested in how you get on. Please take some before, during, and after photos and post them when you are done.

Donna and Bayley

[Carolyn Shusterman]

Our Hershey never really changed her coat, she did go through a period at about 9 to 12 months where she would get a few matts under her arm pits and tummy when her hair was 4 to 6 inches long.  She is a silky wavy fleece and is 15 months old now.

Don't be afraid to use your scissors to shorten Rooney's hair.  He won't critique your work.

[Lori, Rooney & Zuzu]

Thanks, Donna.

I'm thinking I'm going to go for it sometime in the next week.  Just need to get all my tools in order and make sure Rooney is fully brushed and bathed.  I will definitely take some pics and depending on how it turns out, I may or may not post them! LOL!

[Lori, Rooney & Zuzu]

Oops- I think I replied to Donna in the wrong spot...

But that leads me to... Carolyn- Thanks so much for the vote of confidence.  It is interesting to hear you feel your Hershey never had much of a coat change.  I guess they are all so different so we will see what happens with Mr. Rooney.  I'd certainly love it if it doesn't end up being a big deal but I plan to prepare myself for anything! :)

[Lynda Kamrath]

Go  for it!  We always groom our dogs.  We have 30 years of practice (poodles and doodles) and recommend it highly.  You have to have a little thick skin because of some of the comments you may get, but just give it your best.  It's really important that he get used to you handling his face (particulary eyes and ears) and his feet.  We check our dogs feet thoroughly after every walk because we live in an area with lots of grasses and stickers.  We use a clippers around the face and between the toes and on the belly and sanitary areas.  The rest of the dog we scissors cut.  But see what works for you.  I would recommend a little bit at a time (more for you than the dog).  My dogs have no problem standing for hours for a cut, but I can't take it that long.  There's an advantage to being young, but then you aren't retired and don't have all the time you want to play around with your doodle.  Enjoy!

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

I think you should give it a try! Have some fun with it! I groom Tara now (she is 3yrs old) but didn't when she was Rooney's age. Mainly because I didn't have a grooming table and I didn't know how the heck to keep her still! She was pretty jumpy about any type of grooming at that age. Plus I didn't have DK and all the moral support back then!  Don't forget to post the before and after pics!!! :)

[Dos Doodles--Sam & Luke]

I started taking Sam in for grooming when he was young---like 12 weeks old or so.  I wanted him to get used to being groomed...seems to have worked!  He's not phobic at all, although he doesn't love it.  :-)

[Amy & Cosmo]

We just took our Cosmo for his first grooming at 14 weeks and I am so pleased at how it turned out. He has a wavy coat and I wasn't sure if he even needed it, but we wanted to get him used to the groomer early. He looks great. Ill be taking him every few weeks!

[Karen]

You are so funny, I was thinking the same thing about my puppy - I want to groom him myself, but not with scissors!  I would be terrified!  I am thinking clippers would be the easiest, with a long guard and just zoom zoom zoom, done!  lol, sort of not really I know.  For those of you that do your own grooming, what clippers do you use specifically and what guard?  My puppy is almost 5 months and has probably 3 inches on his fur.  I also thought that if I kept him short when his adult coat comes in it won't be such a big deal to deal with.  Lori I would love to see pictures if you decide to go for it!  Along with a step by step tutorial of course!  :-)  good luck!

[Lori, Rooney & Zuzu]

Karen- I have almost gathered my courage and I'm thinking the scissors are coming out this afternoon!  If so, I will definitely take pictures- for better of for worse!!

[Lori, Rooney & Zuzu]

UPDATE: Well, Rooney got a bit of a trim tonight but I was very conservative to start since I have no idea what I'm doing.  Even at that, I think there are a couple of spots that look a bit too obvious, but I understand now where I went wrong and could adjust next time.  I think just like with people, the lighter your hair, the more the mistakes show.  Blondes may have more fun but they also run the risk of an obviously bad haircut! LOL!

His face doesn't really need a trim right now so I mainly concentrated on his body.  Even his legs aren't too bad so I didn't do much there either.  I'll take a fresh look tomorrow and see where else I should perhaps trim up a little.

We shall see how it looks in the light of day... I'll get some pictures tomorrow and share.

He was very patient about the process but I did let him lie down which I'm sure is a grooming no-no.  But that's me, a grooming rebel.  It goes well with my Crazy Puppy Lady schtick.

[Connie & Kramer]

Kramer had his first full groom yesterday.  I pleaded with a local breeder to groom him and instead she offered to teach me so I could do it myself (even better!).  Anyway, she used the Robocut (also known as a Flowbee).  That thing was amazing.  It cuts the hair and sucks it up into a vacuum at the same time.  What I liked most, is that I couldn't cut his hair too short or leave it patchy like the electric shears can do.  She showed me how to cut around the face, ears, and legs so that everything was trimmed up.  The overall cut keeps him about 2" long which still looks attractive.  If I had to hear one more groomer tell me Kramer was too big or "like a poodle" I was getting to the point that I was thinking he would have long hot hair all summer!