Hair on Penny's face

[Sally M]

Penny's hair has really gotten super curly on her forehead and muzzle. Curls are in front of her eyes. I try to sweep the curls out of the way but they just return, coming from her nose and forehead. Penny's hair hasn't gotten longer (thus far) so we can't justify spending $70 on a haircut just to have a few curls trimmed. Yet, neither of us are going to get that close to her eyes with a pair of scissors! Any suggestions?

[F, Calla & Luca]

I cut hair near my dogs' eyes all the time. It helps to have the hand you use to steady the dog's head also shield the eyes. Aim the point of the scissors away from the eye. Common sense goes a long way and we have had no problems.

[Sally M]

I'll give it a try although my husband doesn't want me to do it. And the vet says not to do it either. Thanks.

[Sally M]

I figured it out. I'll shield her eyes and face with my fingers/my hand. And the curls can stick up through my closed fingers and then I can trim them. (Like when I get my hair cut--my hairdresser always holds my hair between her fingers). The scissors would only come close to my fingers/my hand and not my dog's face. Now it doesn't sound scary at all. If you all can do it, so can I. The vet probably said not to do it as they aren't in the position to give out grooming advice.

[Wendy and Myla]

Get a pair of the blunt nosed scissors - they're inexpensive and not quite as dangerous!

[Sally M]

Yeah, we've some of those scissors...somewhere. Thank you.

[Ginny Nightingale]

You can pull the hair up and away from the eyes while someone steadies the dog or gives her  treat--and then trim it--that way you are not as close to the eyes. You can trim the hair from the top of the snout to the corners of the eyes so that it does not block her vision--and keep it short along the top of the snout all the way from the eyes to the nose --wish I had a diagram!

[Ginny Nightingale]

Look at this picture--although my dog does not have curls, he has a very thick coat, so i trim the hair short on the very top of his snout.  You could continue that down all the way to the nose and about an inch wide--again, pull the hair up and away from the skin and then cut straight across.

[Sally M]

What a cute dog you have! Goldendoodle or Labradoodle? (I swear, you could get one side by side with the other, and I wouldn't be able to tell which breed is which. Tells you how much I DON'T know!). His hair is a beautiful color! And nice and thick too!
Thanks for the photo. Now I can see what you were talking about. :-) You do a nice job of trimming him.

[Ginny Nightingale]

Thanks! Rio is a Labradoodle whose mom  is an apricot Australian Labradoodle (the cream colored dog in my profile pic--I own her and he was born at my house!) and his dad is an F1 Labradoodle with the exact same color pattern as Rio--He has a VERY thick coat--I usually groom him over the course of three days--two hours each time--just so we both don't get too exhausted!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Clancy looks like his coat might be similar to Penny's (when he was younger).  Here is a close up of his face. I don't groom but I know that with his type coat, you can pull the long topknot kind of like a forward ponytail and cut.

[Sally M]

Yes, it seems like Clancy has the same very wavy coat as Penny. I see how you trimmed his "bangs". Everyone does such a good job. This is exactly what I'll have to do to my dog as the curls are not only on her nose but a lot of thickness is appearing on her forehead, just like Clancy in the picture.
I love seeing these photos of other Doodles. Clancy is awesome looking!
Doodles look like "shaggy dogs" aka sheepdogs, sort of...at least to my untrained eye.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Thanks.  Clancy's 'look' is my favorite. However, in him it goes with little matting but lots of shedding.