Grooming Your Doodle

Here is a booklet with photos as well as a you tube video from the ALAA.

Grooming your Labradoodle yourself is a very straight forward task

Tools needed:

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For long hair you will need to do a full comb out at least once a week or every 3 days to ensure that mats wont build up. This takes about 5-10 minutes to brush out. If you have more than one pet/labradoodle in the house you will need to brush them out more frequently due to them playing and mouthing one another. I usually brush them out every 3 days or so (especially behind the ear, neck behind their legs and any friction areas). Be gentle when brushing knots out, it can really hurt them. Sometimes it is best to cut the knot out or you can start at the longest part and brush in all direction to separate the knot. You should lift the hair to get right to the root so you don’t just brush the top hair. Give lots of praise and be patient with them. It takes them a while to get use to this regime and if it is unpleasant for them they will never get use to it. If you want to keep your labradoodle in a short cut as in 1/2 an inch then brushing once a week is fine. Their short hair cut should be maintained every 2 months. ( We recommend still grooming them by gently brushing them as puppies every week as well as a good ear clean weekly or if they are swimming/getting wet to use a good ear cleaner to prevent moisture build up)

The puppy coat will need to be brushed out weekly, especially from 6-9 months old. That is when the adult coat will come in and if the puppy coat isn't brushed out it will matt into the adult coat and need to be shaved. It is very important to tell your groomer to NEVER SHAVE THEIR HEAD OR FACE, also their tail, if one can help it. Ask them to cut out any knots and not shave these areas, as they will feel very naked and cold. 


What to keep short on your Labradoodle

Eyes: Use blunt cut scissors to trim hair once a month or so, for your dog to be able to see. 

Ears: Use blunt cut scissors to trim the bottoms of the ears straight across so they wont drop in the water dish, also for sanitary purposes. I like to use my curved scissors for the ears and feet trimming .

*Note Some Labradoodles have more ear hair than others, those with a large amount of hair inside of the ear canal needs to be removed or it may create infection or a blockage. The hair is very shallow rooted and can easily be pulled out using your thumb and index fingers.  

Beard: Use blunt cut scissors to trim your dog’s beard so they don’t have a goat beard and wont drop in the water dish, also for sanitary purposes.

Private areas: Use the buzz trimmer for this and make sure to wipe it clean after every use. I use alcohol preps.  
This should be done every month.  

 

Bathing 

A bath should be done once a month. A quick rinse off is fine as they can be left unwashed longer because of the labradoodle's fabulous quality of low to no odor. We have recommendations that we will email you for shampoo that is tearless on your buddy so it doesn't hurt their eyes. 
Dry them very well because their hair says wet for a long time, blow-drying coat is highly recommended. Cleaning out their ears following a bath with ear cleaner is important to prevent moisture and eventual infections. Dry them thoroughly.