Grooming

Grooming your Australian Labradoodle will be your newest challenge the first year of ownership of a doodle. Like learning any new skill you first need to learn the new grammar of the subject. Combs, curved scissors, slick brush, Chris Christensen pin T-brush, clippers, dog nail drimel. Your puppy will need trims and brushed before they are ever old enough to go to the groomer. Your puppies nails and hair grows so fast you are going to need to keep up their nails and sanitary cut weekly. Our puppies have been desensitized to nail drimel and all things listed above since 3 days old. Including the blow dryer. 

NUMBER ONE RULE OF A DOODLE IS COMPLETELY BRUSH OUT YOUR DOG BEFORE BATH TIME. ONE KNOT OR MAT WILL BE CEMENTED WHEN BATHED WITHOUT BEING BRUSHED OUT. Then brush again while blow drying.

Owners need to do their part in home grooming maintenance. The bonus to these dogs is they don't shed all over all your furniture or trigger allergies for most, but you need to brush them so their luscious locks don't get matted. We suggest you brush your dog completely with the slicker brush they come with in their go home bag but as their hair transitions to their adult coat we suggest the Chris Christensen 16mm Pin T-Brush then go back over with the metal comb to the skin to check for mats. Matting is not your friend! If you take your dog to the groomer covered in mats you will take home a shaved naked shell of a dog! Or worse a matted dogs skin can't properly breath and can cause skin infection, matting in ears can cause moisture and bacteria to be trapped in the ears and cause ear infections.  Prevent this by focusing your grooming on the legs, belly, armpits, face, neck around the collar area, tail, and then back. The main back gets the least matting because they aren't on their back 24/7 but the most brushing usually. Brush your entire dog in small sections, not just their back. All of our puppies go home with the ALAA grooming card pictured below to give to your groomer. I strongly suggest watching the videos below on how to properly brushed out 3x weekly minimum.

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Puppy grooming: Puppies can't go to the groomer till fully vaccinated so in the mean time you are fully responsible for grooming your baby.

                                          Weekly this our routine with the puppies.

• with curved grooming scissors trim hair out of corner of eyes

• shave hair 1/2 inch in all directions away from bum to prevent dingle berries

• boys trim penis hair to prevent uti and hair on belly infront of penis about an inch in front should be shaved

• girls trim hair on girl parts to prevent uti, shave all hair around area to prevent urine smell

• trim hair between toes with clippers and round foot or they form grinch pointy slippers that become mops of water from outside rain.

• trim nails with dog drimel nail trimmer including dew claws. 

• brush puppy with slicker, follow after with metal comb make sure it runs through smoothly, if it gets caught you have a knot.

• We bathe pups once a week. DOODLES MUST ALWAYS BE BLOW DRIED then brushed again.

• We recommend Best Shot conditioner, shampoo, and finishing spray. Finishing spray needs to be brushed in before blow drying to prevent heat damage to their hair. If your dog has a curlier coat that matts more we recommend Marshmallow Dematt system added to the routine to remove and prevent matting. 

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                                                                          Groomers

Finding a great groomer that won't do a doodle teddy bear cut or a poodle cut on your dog will be your biggest obstacle. Once you do find a great groomer that will cut ears to the leathers, clean the face without the razor, but hand cut is key! When you find a groomer that does this for you treat them well and tip them! You have found the jackpot!!

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All puppies go home with the grooming card below. Feel free to give it to your groomer for references and have them keep it with your dogs grooming card. Most groomers are willing to work with you to understand the cut you want, it may not happen the first hair cut. The main thing is these aren't spaniels they DO NOT NEED long ear hair! Long ears traps moisture in the ears which increases the rate of ear infections. The two main reasons for ear infection in this breed is if the ears aren't kept trim for air flow or groomers that do ear flushes tend to leave fluid in the ears where bacteria will grow. We strongly suggest not having ears flushed.

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Groomer notes for Australian Labradoodles:

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• 1 inch cut

• ears cut round to leathers

• ear angle follows through to the jaw/muzzle

• feet rounded

• tail hair shaped but not trimmed off

• sanitary cut

• face in an upside down V shape

• top of head hair should be left long enough to naturally part

• beard SHAPED not shaved

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