Tired of the post-walk grooming

[Lynda Kamrath]

I finally decided this morning as we were having our coffee in bed, that Harpo is going to be clipped.  It is my husband's 66th birthday today and I have been walking the dogs out at the new Ft. Ord National Monument.  About half of the area is available for walking (and biking) and we know almost all of it after years of biking and restoration work in the area.  BUT, the dogs collect tons of seeds and stickers when they are off leash and it takes me longer to pull out the burrs and stickers that it took to walk the dogs.  Charlie said that Harpo feels terrible and his belly is so soft that I told Charlie he could trim my dog as a birthday present to him.  The problem is that Harpo loves to roll in sand and finds places to roll every time we have him out for a walk.  He also just LOVES to roll in the wet sand on the beach and it is one reason I don't take them to Carmel Beach more often.

SO, Monday is the day.  The beautiful (at last I think it is beautiful) coat comes off!  I wonder how he will look under all that hair.  It is not usually hot in this area, but we can have more trips to the beach without a bath each time we go.  It will make the walks for the dogs a lot easier for me.  I just hope that Harpo's coat is more like Groucho's who needs very little grooming.  He doesn't mat and you just run the brush through his hair after a walk in the wild.

Can you imagine cleaning this coat after a walk on the beach???   Bath?  Absolutely.

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

We call Tara the Velveteen Doodle when she is cut down! :)

[Christine & Shelby]

Funny.... I have referred to Shelby as the Velveteen doodle too!!!!!

[Kathy, Harley & Roxie]

Love this!

[Michelle Motorola]

another positive about shaving is itll be easier to do a tick search. They totally gross me out, havent seen one yet but i check after everytime i take chloe outside. Itll be a lot easier to check when she has shorter hair. Nasty creatures!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

You are smart. As much as you take your doods to places that just 'mess' them up, you will all be happier with a sleeker look.

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

I totally agree with everyone on shorter coats. I love both of my doodles coats long and shaggy, but I really have much better things to do with them than, brush, comb, cut out mats, and vacuum loose long hair up all the time. They are cut down to about 3/4 in. Twice a year. They grow out to 3-4 inches by the time we do the next cut. So it's like having 2 totally different looks and I enjoy them both. But short is definetly easier to mange.

[Barbara B., Sasha & Oliver]

For the past two years I have been debating with myself to cut down or not !!!  Sasha is very poodley with a very tight curl and I do keep her on the shorter side.  Oliver has a curly coat as well but does not matt nearly as much as Sasha but both are dirt magnets.  Any outing requires a bath that day or the next.  

[Kathy, Harley & Roxie]

I sooo understand where your coming from.  Absolutely LOVED Harley's long shaggy coat, but he was miserable when I would have to brush him out after a day of fun.  We took the plunge and he was cut very short, took some getting use to.  Be he has reached a length right now that gives him his puppy face back and it makes my heart melt. 

[Lynda Kamrath]

Thanks for all the encouragement.  It is sad to cut off all that hair, but we are going to do it on Monday.  I took some photos so we could remember what he looked like before the cut.  So...here he is in all his glory, actually all my work.  I am not going to miss trying to get all the burrs and seeds out of that coat.  Oh, and this is his favorite pose, sitting on the couch, looking out the window (often with his head under the lampshade but I pulled it back for the photo).

[Michelle Motorola]

i hope that my puppy ends up with hair like this, i just love the way it looks short!. Im definitly no expert very very far from it, but this guy looks similar (to me anyway) to what your furbaby would look like cut short, and i think it is absolutly adorable!

[Lynda Kamrath]

I HOPE!  Just look at that darling face.

[Lynda Kamrath]

Well, I cut off his dreads yesterday and my husband is giving him a haircut right now.  I will give him a bath and blow dry afterwards.  I tried to bush out the left-over mats yesterday and Harpo loved the brushing.  I think it felt like a great roll in wet sand.  I think we will all like the new do, and yes, he does look like the above dog.  He definitely isn't fat, but he is long.  Also, he has poison oak on his belly again.