hair care for swimming doodles

[Maryann,Roo and Tigger]

Roo is a swimming nut. He would spend all day in the pool if I let him. It is a good way to use up some of his boundless energy though. I currently try to rinse him off and spray him lightly with leave in conditioner to prevent mats. He is very curly. Anybody have a better idea? Also mostly we just play fetch, ideas for other water games?

[Tamara & Giada]

That is exactly what we do, although we just switched to Baby Detagler and that works better than any I have found at the petstores!!

Fetch is all we do too...not sure of anything else.

[2ngdn4puh7oiq]

Hello. I had the same problem with my Doodles, but they don't have real curly hair. The only thing that works is to keep them cut pretty short. We tried brushing before and after, conditioner, etc...the cut is the only sure-fire way to keep the nasty mats at bay.

A word to white/blonde doodle owners...my 2 boys have been in the pool a lot this summer. One day, I noticed they were turning green from the chlorine! I've had to buy some de-chlorinator shampoo, which doesn't work that great. My nail technician said wetting them first with regular/hose water would help to keep the chlorine from soaking into their hair so much.

As far as water games, fetch is about the only idea I have. One of my boys, Ollie, is fish-obsessed so I bought some battery operated fish at the pool store. It kept them busy for hours. So much so, I don't think I'm going to do it again as Ollie kept circling the pool for days looking for the fish. Plus, Murphy "caught" one occasionally and the propeller would get stuck in his beard.

Good luck!

[Adrianne Matzkin]

My Samantha has not been in a pool yet but it will interesting. I was hysterical with the picture in my head of the fish-obseesed (amantha is ball obsessed) and Ollie looking for the fish for days. Samantha would so do the same thing with a ball. We had a Doodle Romp at the beach last week (the second time she was there) and ignored the other Doodles for the most part because I made the mistake of taking her ball out of my pocket too early. I wonder if all Doodles are object-obsessed.

[Eva]

Hi Adrianne,
My doodle Malibu is totally ball obsessed, but her Best friend isn't. I too can make the mistake of bringing a ball out too early and she won't do anything else but that, totally ignoring other doodles and playmates.
I love the idea of buying the fish for the pool, I"m going to try that when it's warmer and swimming season too.

[Linda,Yankee & Finn]

ROFL! I guess I won't be buying any fish.

[Beverley S. LaLonde]

Hello Tamara & Giada,
Your all having just too much fun doodling around. Harlee has wavy coat and is very easy care. During summer months I give him a wash and wear cut. He dries quick and is easy upkeep that way. I always worry about hot spots if a real heavy coat and thick where they can't dry out. My first choice was a soft curl, but I am happy with Harlee's coat. Do you have to pluck ears on the F2 or soft curl coats? I know I had to do that with my toy poodle Cruzer.Not my favorite job! Bev & Harlee

[Sandi, Jeff & Mickey]

The last groomer said to brush him out before the pool, but he knows the time of day to go in the pool so to stop and groom him isn't really working that well. He's OK everywhere now, but his tail, as we let it grow out and trimmed the rest of his body.

[Debbie & Cotton Clegg]

Cotton loves to swim. The problem we have with her is she turns green from the chlorine. Does anyone know of something that will neutralize the chlorine?
She is not obsessed with objects but her sister the Boykin is. She is still swimming even though the water is very cold. Cotton is a little smarter, she hasn't been swimming for about a month.

[Danielle]

I actually have the same problem with my own hair (haha) and was told that if I wet my hair before I go into the pool then that won't happen (since the hair can only hold so much water). I don't know how true that is. What I can tell you, as I have done some research on the subject because green hair is no fun (haha), is that it isn't actually the chlorine that turns the hair green. There are trace amounts of certain metals in the pool and what is actually turning your dog's (and my hair) green is the oxidized copper deposits that get into the hair cuticle - like how a copper penny turns green when it gets wet for a long period of time. Sometimes it can mean that the pH of the pool is too basic (pH over 7) which can happen with the addition of algae killers and other chemicals that change the pH. So basically, copper is your culprit not the chlorine.

Giving Cotton a rinse right after the pool may help. I used to take showers right after getting out of the pool and that generally kept the green out too. I know there are special shampoos for people that are designed to remove metals from hair, but I don't know if they have them for dogs too. I have also heard that conditioning hair before going into the pool can seal the cuticle and prevent the copper from binding to the hair.

I don't know if that helps, but I hope it does!

[Sue]

I have a 2 year old doodle Bailey Cosmos who loves anything water related. He will play fetch in the pool for a while but what he loves to do is swim laps and race with me. I have a "sitting area" ledge in the corner of my deep end and I'll tell him to swim to our spot and he takes off. Once we get there I'll tell time back and we swim back to the steps. He hates it if I get ahead of him, so much so he'll climb on me to slow me down and then he takes off again.
great ideam about the conditioner, I've just been fighting through with brushing. I'll try this when we are able to get back in the pool.

[Joan and Rags]

Oh thank goodness there is something to help, I have just been brushing and brushing my girls curly hair, and all it does is make her frizzy. I'm definately going to try the conditioner.
I had no idea about the green hair thing from a pool, b/c I just take Rags to the beach, but this summer we are going to a beach house in NC and it has a pool so thanks for the tips everybody. We can't wait to go swimming!! It hard to imagine it today at 17 degrees. :-)
Oh and a little different take on the fetch game is to see how far Roo can jump to get to the ball. Or throw the ball and have Roo wait until you say its ok to get it, thats a good obedience challange.

[Mercedes]

Mercedes loves the pool. We tend to keep her shorter in the summer but not too short to maintaine that doodle look. We also play fetch to get the "dripping" water off of her after a swim, but find after 10 or so fetches, she gets hot and goes right back in the pool. Crazy circle. We then keep a very large and thick towel on the deck and she loves to roll on that and that seems to absorb the dripping water off. Thank goodness for wood floors inside!!