Maintaining Your Doodles Coat

I’m going to talk about grooming upkeep!

At 8 weeks old when you take home your puppy they should be getting weekly nail trims. As they grow their nail growth will slow down a bit and you can trim their nails every 2 weeks. Every 2-3weeks as an adult. 

-Regular full grooms need to happen every 5-8 weeks depending on the level of maintenance you are looking for in your dog. So that means a full brush out, bath, blowout, shave/trim, ears, teeth, nails. Doesn’t matter what the length you keep their coat, regular upkeep is very important. 

- In between grooming's your dog should receive at least 1 nail trim or more (don’t forget rear dew claws if your puppy has them). I like my dogs nails to be clean and short 😉. Now depending on the length of coat you keep on your dog, regular brushing is required. The shorter the coat the less you have to brush. For shorter coats I recommend brushing once a week and fully line brushing ever 2-3 weeks unless they have gotten wet then dry them out and brush them the same day. For longer coats  brushing every day or two and they should get fully line brushed every two weeks to prevent the hair from matting.

“High Friction Areas” check these frequently as many people miss these very important areas. This includes the ears, behind the ears, even the very edges of the ears, chin, lips, muzzle, top of the head (mats from petting), backs of the legs, armpits, groin, tail & bum and last but not least in between the toes! 

-Dogs with folded ears don’t get the same airflow like dogs with ears that stand up. Please make sure your puppy/dogs ears are kept dry and clean and the hair on the underside is trimmed short.

A good quality shampoo and conditioner specifically formulated for dogs is what you want to look for. We purchase our grooming supplies and products from a local pet grooming supply shop. We love the Beau products that are made from clean ingredients and safe to use on puppies. Grooming sprays are a great addition when brushing out your dogs. They help protect the coat when brushing out tangles.

Bathe your dog regularly every 4 weeks. It is very important to fully brush out your dog and make sure they are completely knot free before getting them wet. Wetting down a matt makes it even tighter and harder to get out. After the bath you need to fully dry your dog with a blow dryer or a high velocity dog grooming blow dryer (there are lots of reasonably priced high velocity dryers on amazon. Your local pet shot that has wash pet stations will also have high velocity dryers available). Blowing out the coat actually blows out the curls and help prevent matting for a longer period of time and insures that the wet hair doesn't dry into tight curls that will friction matt.