why?

[Briggs]

so, i have a 4 month old F1 goldendoodle, and am going to take him to the groomer for the first time next week, just to have a bath and a sanitary cut just so he gets used to going when his coat needs to be really cut. but i was wondering, why it is suggested that the hair in between the toes be cut? is it a problem for some reason? i am new to dog ownership in general, so don't know all the reasons, but i kind of like that he has fur to cover his nails so they don't scratch my hard wood floors. 

[Lindsay n Archie]

I think it just gets dirty and bacteria can spread.  I know in the winter, Archies feet turn to giant snowballs and even more so when his hair on his feet is long. 

[Bonnie and Kona]

One on my Golden doodles gets mats in the hair under his paws. It would be like walking on a stone if I didn't cut it out. Also it makes them slip on the floors more. If the feet are trimmed there is less likely to be a yeast issue from moisture building up on the bottoms of their feet. That's a few reasons anyway. Hope this makes sense. Keeping nails trimmed will probably do a better job of protecting your floors than long paw hair.

[Marie Dennen]

Agreed, they get matts, it stay, cleaner. Things can tangled in there. Dogs that are maintained well by their owners can have matts in there that hard and probably does feel like walking around with a stone. Not only are there can be matts underneath in between their toes but also on the on top of their toes in between. Personally this is a pet peeve of mine when I find them on a dog because matts gey progressively tighter and that has got to hurt. Prevention is key. Very regular ggrooming is the trick. I would do once month at the groomer while he is young. Grooming involves a certain amount of training. They have to learn to get groomed. There is description of line brushing and combing some where on this page I believe. Do that. Doodles are high maintenance grooming dogsdepending on the type of coat they have.

[Myra Williams]

Matted hair between toes and paw pads can be painful to our doodles.  I've only had doodles for the past 10 months so I'm no expert but I do know that keeping nails trimmed short will prevent your dog from scratching hardwood floors.  If the nails are long now, trim just a little every few days and the 'quick' will recede as well so the nails can be kept short.