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Grooming A Poodle


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There are so many different clips you can have with a poodle. Surely there will be some type of clip that they like. Even if they don't like the more 'manicured' styles. Having worked with groomers, there are many people who want their poodle to 'not look like a poodle' :thumbsup: Why get a Poodle in the first place? :rofl: Most of these people choose to have a hairy face instead of a shaved face, and less clear lines, ie no shaving around foot or tail pompom.

Personally, I love the way you can puff up poodle hair and get it to look so perfect!

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I have a 6.5 month old brown mini and we have opted for a less traditional, shaggy look (we got him for his intelligence and personality, not for the pom-poms and puff). That said, our boy is brushed daily and visits the groomer every 6 weeks for a tidy up. He has a full face (also known as a "teddy bear" face) but his feet and right under the tail around the anus is shaved (it means no poo gets stuck in the coat and less dirt in our house!)

When we first got him, OH and I knew we wanted to keep him shaggy and I asked about clipping advice here. After many "we'll see how long you'll last" comments from some of the more experienced poodle owners and breeders on DOL :rofl: we decided to thank them for their input but press ahead with how we wanted our pup to look. We're happy with our choice but are fully aware that come summer and his first birthday (coat changeover time!), there's high probability that our boy is going to get shaved down, head to toe.

As you can probably imagine, I, like most new poodle owners, spent a lot of time trawling the web looking for examples of different poodle trims.

The very BEST site I could find was this one: http://qtpawzpoodles.tripod.com/poodlehaircuts.html

I printed out the pages and when it came time for his first haircut, I took them along to the groomer so I could clearly explain what I wanted. Turns out they'd never seen anything like this page either and were most grateful. The result was that we got the look we wanted, our pup is happy and we get comments all the time from people about how lovely it is to see a poodle minus all the froufrou. Amen to that I say!

Wish your friend the best of luck :thumbsup:

Edited by Natashja
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Natashja:

We're happy with our choice but are fully aware that come summer and his first birthday (coat changeover time!), there's high probability that our boy is going to get shaved down, head to toe.

Ah yes, the "teddy bear' - that trim is in the Kalstone book. The Bichon trim is also popular for non-poodley looks.

I'd resist the urge to completely shave your boy... try to keep a little length on the head and legs. A good groomer would scissor rather than shave those. Shaved legs look "unfortunate" unless they've been done with a comb on the clippers.

You tend to see longer looks on purely urban dogs. I suppose that's because they simply don't get muddy or covered in grass seeds - come summer, my dogs get pretty grotty and getting all that stuff out is simpler when longer hair is confined to head, ears (on two of my dogs) and legs.

Personally, I can't imagine not having a shaved face but that's the versatility of the coat - you can have it anyway you want. Some of old novelty clips like the "cowboy" have to be seen to be believed. :thumbsup:

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While we're in an urban area, there's still plenty of opportunity for our pup to get filthy. And he does! I guess we just take it in our stride and deal with it as necessary.

I just did a google search on the cowboy clip and came up with this hilarious page. Check out these clips!

shawlclip.jpgclownclip.jpg

cowboyclip.jpgbabydoll.jpg

retrieverclip.jpgcountryclip.jpg

monkeyclip.jpghillbilly.jpg

royaldutch.jpgdesignerwoman.jpg

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I have many clients who start off wanting to keep their poodle unclipped.

Have only had one last out the distance, and I groom the dog every week.

Usually we clip them by the time they are 15/16 months. Maintaining a puppy can be relatively easy, it gets harder as the coat grows and adult coat comes in.

They are very hard work, and for most the novelty wears off, and the once cute little pup comes in to be groomed looking something like a neglected flokati mat.

It is essential that faces and bums are kept clean and my preference is to clip around the anus, tummy and under the corner of the eye and down the bridge of the nose, and keep the face trimmed up, and ears plucked.

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I've got a book with those old clips in it Natashja.... poor dogs - not very dignified. Mind you I put big pants on my youngest so he does look like he's wearing chaps sometimes. I do something like the retriever clip on the boys.

I've been toying with the idea of doing a baby doll on my white toy for a giggle - but fortunately if I lie down for a while it goes away. :mad

So far, in addition to mud, sand and burrs, I've removed the following from my dogs coats:

Green Algae

Duck Poo (bright green on a white dog)

Rotten Kangaroo

Dead Seagull

Newfie slobber

They may be poodles but they are still dogs. :) What's with the rings around the neck??? :thumbsup:

Edited by poodlefan
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Thanks for the responses everyone.

Natashja would love to see a bigger picture of your poodle...

The pup I'm talking about gets his face wiped down every time he eats and gets his other end wiped with baby wipes when ever he goes out to toilet!!

Like I said they have a lot of time to spend with him - but I'll keep watching just in case the novelty wears off :thumbsup:

- Gillian

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Thanks for the responses everyone.

Natashja would love to see a bigger picture of your poodle...

The pup I'm talking about gets his face wiped down every time he eats and gets his other end wiped with baby wipes when ever he goes out to toilet!!

Like I said they have a lot of time to spend with him - but I'll keep watching just in case the novelty wears off :thumbsup:

- Gillian

Okay, these ones are of him at 3 months old and younger, and he's MAJORLY boofy-haired (he's now 6 months and not quite as boofed-up). Will take some more tonight and upload for you.

Chomsky at 10 weeks post-9488-1153275090_thumb.jpg Chomsky at 3.5 months post-9488-1153275107_thumb.jpg

Chomsky at 3 months post-9488-1153275121_thumb.jpg Chomsky at 3 months post-9488-1153275130_thumb.jpg

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I'm glad to hear your friends take good care of their dog :rofl: . We're all protective of our dogs. You saw the photo of the matted photo poodlefan put up.. it's incredible what people CAN do thru neglect &/or ignorance.

I have a disgusting poodle also- likes to roll on seaweed and dead fish at the beach and eat kangaroo poo. Here's my Oscar at the beach:

post-6819-1153312746_thumb.jpg

post-6819-1153310685_thumb.jpg (photo off the web- I can't groom that well!)

This is shaved feet, face, base of tail- still think this looks nice, especially for an urban poodle. Would be great for a primarily indoor dog.

For more sporty/ active/ outdoor poodles.... I like this head shot of poodlefan's Ted (sorry I can't find the link, but it's Ok to re-post?):

post-6819-1153311320_thumb.jpg

I'm glad poodlefan had a lie down b4 doing a baby doll clip on Lilly :D :rofl:

If you want to scare your friend, there's this seriously wierd Star Trek poodle: "The final frontier".. in poodle grooming. Hate that rounded-head look. Hope the poodle LOVED being groomed. That's the kind of head some groomers do if you DON'T say " I don't want him to look too much like a poodle" (some groomers more talented than others, of course):

post-6819-1153310763_thumb.jpg

Edited by Poodle wrangler
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Okay, I promised more recent pics, and here they are!

These were in fact taken this morning (Chomsky had the chop a fortnight ago and had IV fluids which is why he's missing hair from his front, right leg)

post-9488-1153357618_thumb.jpg post-9488-1153358474_thumb.jpg post-9488-1153358536_thumb.jpg post-9488-1153358460_thumb.jpg

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I can't help it Natashja... I just...want.... to..... clip his face.... arrgggghhhh. :D

Have you trimmed his ears?

:rofl: poodlefan! We love is fluffy face (even if we do have to wipe it down after every meal)

By "trimmed his ears" what do you mean? He goes to the groomer every 6 weeks for a tidy up and they trim/scissor/cut (I don't know the correct term) the hair on the outer side of the ear leathers and do a tidy underneath so there is airflow to the canal. He's got the hairiest ear canal ever, so we pluck a little and trim inside.

Edited by Natashja
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*hides* We had a Labradoodle at the daycare that looked identical to your dog Natashja! They also liked to keep him scruffy, but they NEVER brushed him and he was always such a mess. My feelings every time I saw him was the same as poodlefan :D That and give him a good brush! The owners actually got mad if we brushed him because they didn't like him fluffy (sometimes I did it anyway)! Which made it interesting when they booked him in for a bath or a clip . . .

EFS

Edited by Kavik
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It's enough that we wipe his face down after every meal. I don't want to be doing the ears also!

I tie my dogs ears up (hair only, not leather) for meals. Out come the hair elastics and the dog's start jumping with excitement. Others use snoods. :D

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*hides* We had a Labradoodle at the daycare that looked identical to your dog Natashja! They also liked to keep him scruffy, but they NEVER brushed him and he was always such a mess. My feelings every time I saw him was the same as poodlefan :D That and give him a good brush! The owners actually got mad if we brushed him because they didn't like him fluffy (sometimes I did it anyway)! Which made it interesting when they booked him in for a bath or a clip . . .

EFS

With all due respect Kavik, our Poodle comes from excellent lines and is by no stretch of the term, a "designer dog". He is brushed daily to enusre any matts, dirt etc are removed and I feel we do an excellent job. So much so that our groomer often remarks that she wishes more of the dogs she saw were maintained in such a condition.

Poodlefan, I'm the only one in our household with hair elastics - the dog is just going to have to stick with shorter hair on the ears :rofl:

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I hav been a groomer for the last 10 years and have done many poodle trims the teddy bear cut is great and I love doing it but I love doing any trip on poodle as long a I scissor them .cliping thier bodies for some dog is more practical spiecal if they like to swim in summer

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