"Standard" doodle cut

[Lindsay and Luna]

Hi! I'm new to grooming and doodles. We adopted Luna last Valentine's Day, and I've been grooming her since her first professional full groom, when they cut her beard and fluffy mop top off. I keep her pretty short, 3/4"-1". I know there is not really a specific cut for doodles, but I'm looking for suggestions to keep her looking more doodley. I seem to always end up grooming her face to look like a schnauzer, (maybe because I used to have one, although I didn't groom her myself). I need particular help with the beard/neck/sides of face. (Picture 2 is her now, about a month since her last groom. Her beard is now very goatee-looking.) ;) Thank you!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Leslie's suggestion of longer ears and shorter beard is mine also.  However, I think you should purchase the doodlekisses calendar - maybe the one with 4 photos per page. You could find doodles that you think have nice looks and either try that yourself or take the pic to the groomer to show what you want - exactly.

[Leslie, Yogi & Maci Bear]

Good idea!

[Lindsay and Luna]

Thanks!

[Linda, Charlie Brown and Beau]

Lindsay ~ it sounds like you know the look you want.  Your photos are very cute and I think you are really doing a pretty good job.  My only recommendation would be to try to grow the ears back out possibly even with the muzzle.  The ears can easily get matted especial under the ear near the side of the head.  I make myself brush both of the boys' head and tails daily just because I do not want them to get mats - it only takes minutes once they are settled down in the evening. You will get Luna looking like you want soon - it just takes time for some of the hair to grow out.  Good luck.I admire you for doing the grooming yourself.

[Lindsay and Luna]

Thanks! How short do you think the beard should be?

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

Oh what a cutie! I agree with the others about shortening the beard and growing the ears out to attain more of the rounded look that you want. 

Royal Diamond Labradoodles has several videos on YouTube that I have found helpful. This one is showing how to cut the ears and the lower one how to cut the beard and mustache. This dog has a lot more hair both in thickness and length then Tara but I still use these ideas and have found them to be helpful:

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

[Lindsay and Luna]

Thank you so much! I will check out the videos tonight!

[Debb, Lucy & Oscar]

Lindsay, when I first started out home grooming my 2 I used this video as a guide, with a few major differences:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zu9i6FJKE44

I clipper cut the legs rather than scissor them like in the video, because it just works best for their hair type, and its so much faster and easier. Also, the doodle's ears in the video are cut much, much too short for my taste and doesn't resemble what I consider 'doodle ears', so I use much longer comb attachments, just to remove the bulk and layer them a bit, and scissor cut the bottoms following the dogs' natural ear outline to about jaw length.

For ease of upkeep I keep my doods' bodies pretty short, with head, muzzle, ears, legs and tail longer. Both Oscar and Lucy have curly/woolly coats so I probably follow much different techniques than those with fleecy-coated dogs, who might consider scissor cuts rather than clipper cuts. Scissor cuts other than head, tail and feet detail are out of my wheelhouse.

This grooming guide on "The Doodle do" might help also: "The Doodle Do"

With your experience with home grooming, you'll do just fine. Please post the results!

[Lindsay and Luna]

Thanks! I can't wait to watch these!