About $120 month...?

[Pat and Traveler]

Here are some pictures of Traveler, just back from the groomer.  The pictures aren't good and don't do justice to his appearance--he looks gorgeous!   

Here's the thing.  His fur has reached a threshold--just a tad shorter and he pretty much stays mat and tangle free.  This time, he had to be hand scissored, and had many small tangles.  His coat has gotten much thicker as he's gotten older. 

The groomer wants to keep working with him once a month, but it takes time and effort and real skill to keep up with his coat.

Is $120 a month a reasonable price for maintaining a doodle coat?  I know it's an individual decision, but I never had him groomed on a regular basis and really have no idea what people pay.

I sort of like a scruffy appearance for doodles, but for Trav that means mats.  Bummer.  Any thoughts or ideas you may have would be most welcome!

 

[Patti]

Willow gets the works, however not hand scissored for $40.00, and I give a $10.00 tip.  With a very good groomer.

Willow is 30 lbs.

[Pat and Traveler]

Wow!  That sounds like such a good deal.  :)  I'm not sure how long Trav's coat is right now--wait, I just chased him around with a ruler and it looks like about 2". 

[Helen & Kirby]

Traveler does look really cute --I like that haircut!

You could try having your groomer bathe him every three weeks, and with the blow dry and comb out he will be mat free.  Then you could do a "groom" maybe every second or third time. A bath is usually a lot less than grooming, but really looks great when done!!      

[Pat and Traveler]

Thanks, Helen!  I'll talk to the groomer about this possibility.  But wouldn't he need to be mat-free before a bath?  Maybe I just need to pay more attention to daily grooming myself.  And maybe if I start tomorrow and keep it up, things will be much better in a month.  Maybe that's why she wants to see him once a month--she's realized I'm fairly incompetent with the daily grooming routine.  :)

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

That just seems like a big expense to spend each month, however, to you it might be worth it not to have to worry about the brushing it would take to keep him mat free.  I think though if you would start today like you said here and use your LP brush and just spend 5-10 mins each day brushing you would find it really is no big deal.  Even if you miss a day it isn't going to be that bad.  If you brush him out before he goes swimming then you will be surprised to see that when he is finished swimming and dries he should still be pretty much mat free.  It is when there are already mats and he goes swimming they sort of get set and are hard to get out!  If you aren't familiar with "line brushing" do a google search.  There is a video search where a lady is line brushing "sully" and it really shows you how to use the Les Pooch effectively to brush a doodle.  Sophie hated being brushed until I got the LP brush.  Then she was fine with it.  Pick up a comb and she would run, but the LP she was fine.  You have to learn to keep your fingers out of the way, but it really doesn't seem to bother the doodles.  We are on our 2nd LP brush.  Wore the first one out!

[Pat and Traveler]

Thanks, L&A's mom!  We could both probably tolerate 5-10 minutes a day of brushing.  I have watched some videos on line brushing, and frankly--I doubt I would ever want to do that on a consistent basis.  But like you mentioned, maybe the LP brush would make all the difference.  Trav has gotten over hiding in the bathroom when I get into the grooming stuff, and will come to me when I say "Let's do some grooming!"  But he looks like he's going to his own execution.  Such a drama king!  I've made a point of sometimes just running a brush over his back a couple of times, then giving him a treat so he won't think grooming is always bad.

[Camilla and Darwin]

He looks gorgeous! If you are paying for hand scissoring, $120 dollars is reasonable as far as my area goes. To get a shave down it's $70, for hand scissoring it would likely be around $200 (the grooming shops that actually do it here start their price at $90 for small dogs). It takes much more skill, time and effort. 

I would never be able to afford having Darwin groomed monthly, especially not hand scissored monthly. I think "reasonable" is relative though, if you can afford it and there is a tangible benefit to you and Traveler, why not?

[Pat and Traveler]

Camilla, I've been thinking about this off and on all day, and being very indecisive.  Hate that!  There are certainly more worthy ways to spend my hard-earned money.  Trav would rather we just forgot about the whole thing. lol   I was so thrilled to find a groomer who did a good job and also enjoys working with him that maybe I just lost my head.  

[Camilla and Darwin]

It would be a hard decision to weigh indeed. Being a college student I accept weird shaved down look so that it takes him longer to grow out, because it's what I can afford. Once I graduate and get a real job... I may just look into hand scissoring. I won't miss that skinny chicken leg look he gets. :-)

[Pat and Traveler]

Camilla, I know what you mean.  Right now, this falls into the crazy extravagant but still doable  category, and I was feeling sorry for him after I'd last grabbed the thinning shears and done my own version of a scissor cut.  It was impressive, in a sort of horrifying way.  lol

[Camilla and Darwin]

Yeah... I've tried to hand scissor Darwin before. It looked like moths had eaten his fur off. Very unattractive. Ha ha!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

I think Trav looks marvelous :) I think if you are happy and Traveler likes the groomer then it is reasonable. My groomer could cut Fudge and Vern with pinking shears and I wouldn't complain :) She only takes my dogs at one time, no other dogs in the shop, and charges me $40 a dog and Vern is 100 pounds. Needless to say, I tip her well, so she never throws me out.