Poodle Grooming tips. grooming is essential for poodles because their thick, curly coat grows rapidly and can easily mat and tangle. If not regularly brushed and trimmed, leading to skin irritation and discomfort.
Poodles have unique grooming needs primarily due to their curly, non-shedding coat which requires frequent brushing with a slicker brush and comb to prevent matting
They need to go regular to professional grooming sessions to maintain the desired haircut. In this article we will cover understanding of poodle coat
Grooming poodles is not easy. But if you work smart and with the right equipment, it can go really fast.
How to use pin brush combs so you can work really fast. It’s very fun because when you use pin brush the hair is the same length everywhere.
The only thing you need to do after the pin brush. Is to comb the hair up and scissor until it’s smooth. You don’t need to worry about extra carvings or anything else. We just follow the dog’s body with the pin brush
1.) Cleaning out the dog’s ears
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You can use ear powder. It’s very easy with the ear powder to pull out all the dead hair in the ears. It’s very necessary that this hair is taken out because you can get infections. The air can’t go in the ears. It’s really necessary that you take it out.
With the special powder you have more grip. Afterwards you can even put a wet wipe around and you can use it to clean out the ears.
2.) Clipping the dog’s nails
Where the pads are flat and the nail grows , if you clip it flat, you won’t cut into the vain. Here you see a picture( add picture) of the nail where you can very nicely see where to clip the nail.
Afterwards, you can use the grinder to grind the nail a little bit with the nail grinder. Because then you have no sharp edges and when the dog jumps on you or on the couch or wherever, you won’t be hurt.
3.)Clipping the dog’s face, paws, tummy and base of the tail
Let’s do some clipping. For the feet you can use the 3 number blade. It’s very easy. You just go against the growth of the hair. You just take every single finger and you go in between the fingers.
You do it slowly. You don’t hurt the dog. You don’t push the dog, you don’t grip too hard. On average the dog will let you do this. People are asking us how far or how high you can go. It’s actually very easy.
You just take the bottom of the foot and where the pad starts, you shave here and then you have like a V. You shave until you see where the hair starts.
If you follow this rule and you each time turn the foot around and look where you started in the back you will create a very nice line. It won’t be too high.
When your blades are getting too hot too quickly maybe they need some lubrication. When your blade is really hot, you can use the Instant Ice Blade spray and everything is done against the direction of the coat growth.
Just be careful around the eyes and don’t push too much. When you are too close to the front of his mouth you need to push his mouth down a little so he can’t put his tongue out.
So accidentally he doesn’t put his tongue against the clipper blade. It’s very nicely done. Then you see like a little V from the ear to the chest.
Let’s also do the tummy. Make sure that everything is nice and clean under there. Don’t take a blade which is shorter than a 10 number blade. If you do, the dog might have irritation and a rash and it’s not something you want to do.
If you have a standard poodle as a puppy you can even teach him to lift his front legs to do his tummy. Because when you teach them as a puppy to do that, it will be much easier later.
You just have to be very careful at the groin where you can go either on the inside or the outside. But just be careful you don’t go flat on with your clipper.
The tail. The tail is something very personal. Some people like it more, other people like it like a teddy bear.
It’s important at the tail, where the tail comes out of the dog’s body, you go quite far, but not too far. Easy way is when you lift the tail up and down. If you see too much hair moving at that point, you can go a bit further.
4.) Bathing the dog
Let’s do some washing. We are first going to wash with the shampoo. The only thing you need to do is dissolve it in a bit of warm water and use a sponge.
This deep cleaning shampoo will dissolve all the grease and all the dirt. Now let’s do some rinsing. The part where you rinse is actually also necessary to give a massage with a nice grip.
Because that’s the part where all the dirt goes away. That’s where all the rest of the dirt is being rinsed off.
The Conditioning is very important which penetrates the hair shaft and will moisturize each strand of hair. After you have left the conditioner on and it penetrated the hair
It will put a film on the hair and it will also be much easier and quicker to dry. A good rinse. While you are rinsing out the conditioner you will feel ..
First of all, when you first start rinsing, the hair will be all slippery. You need to rinse until you feel that it’s not slippery anymore on your fingers and that it’s back to the natural state of the hair. So, let’s have a good shake.
5.) Drying the dog’s coat
Let’s do some drying. Here we are using the dryer which will actually blow all the water out of the coat. While the dryer is blowing all the water out of the coat the coat will be straight because of the force of the air.
Most of the dogs need to be used to that since they are a puppy so they are well behaved after and they let you do this. You save hours of brushing time if you do this right.
The only thing you need to do is hold the dryer nozzle 10 cm away from the skin. Some people make circles, some people make eights. The only thing you need to remember is to do it until all the hair is dry.
Then you will go from a wet coat to a dry coat and you will straighten it. If you leave your spot and it’s still damp, because it’s a poodle and because a poodle has curly hair
If you leave it to go to another spot and your first spot is still damp it will cringe back together and it will be curly again. So, the only thing you need to do is stay at the spot until it’s fully dry.
6.) Brushing out the dog’s coat
Now let’s do some brushing. Which is especially formulated for the dense coat of the poodle. We will use the hot air with a brush and it will make it easier to make every single strand of hair straight. We will use the dryer.
So, for whatever dog. If it’s a standard poodle and you need a lot of air or if you have a puppy where you don’t need a lot of air.
Because puppies need to get used to the dryer, you just twist it and you have little air flow. Why do we need to brush after the dryer?
When you use the dryer, because of the air, it will straighten the coat. But then you still haven’t brushed or combed the coat. So, now it’s very necessary, with the warm air and the brush, we straighten each hair.
When you put the dryer on the dog you see like a star where the hair goes open. You need to twist around that star. Everywhere where you need to brush, you need to follow the star. So, the star needs to go all over the dog.
That’s why the dryer has a nozzle which you can turn around. You need to make sure that every single spot is nicely opened with the warm air and the brush.
At the front leg you see a nice line. If the hair would have been not straight or still curly or not well brushed you would see a zigzag. That’s because it’s been well brushed and well dried.
This will make sure that the hair on the ears will stay exactly very straight. We will keep it on for clipping and for scissoring and the hair will not get in our way.
7.) Scissoring and styling the coat
We are actually ready for scissoring. The scissoring will be the smallest part because all the other preparation was the biggest part. Now you just need to comb everything up and just make sure it has a good finish.
So, it’s actually the whole time repeating. and then at the shoulder just following the natural line of the dog again. For me poodle clipping is like drawing. I always make a point and then another point and then join everything together.
You take a point and a second point and then you connect both of them. For me the front is the most important point of the whole dog because if this point is correct the whole dog is in balance.
If this point is too low it’s like the dog is leaning forward or his legs are too short. Or his legs are too long when that point is too high.
So, this point for me is the most important point in the poodle. You don’t need to worry anymore about making the paws round because the hair, we’ve done it with the pin brush, is everywhere just as long.
We just need to turn around and make it as round as possible from all sides. I prefer to scissor vertically either up or down. Of course at the bottom of the feet you have to go sideways.
You don’t have to worry about lines or making an extra round or shorter at the front or the back. It’s just straight forward. Just combing and scissoring. Why?
Well, because at the back, when you put the tail up, when you look from the profile, you need to see everything rounded. You won’t see any hair sticking out at the base of the tail.
Even when he’s wagging his tail or when you put the tail up. It’s very easy to go extra short with the Blending shears If you use the Blending shears to do this it’s going to be very easy.
A poodle has a back which is horizontal and then he has a neck. His neck doesn’t start halfway through his body.
Where his neck starts. I really follow his natural body line. You know, the back is horizontal and then after his shoulders gradually the neck is coming. I just scissor as the dog is built.
After you make the line with the Blending shears then you are just going to do the finishing. Now it’s just combing and maybe standing back a meter having a look at what you’re doing.
Because when you’re always standing in front of the dog, 30 centimeters away, you won’t see things anymore.
So, don’t worry to take a meter or two back and have a look sideways and to your grooming. Then you’ll see what else you need to change or maybe go a little bit shorter or just go and see your line from a distance.
Because I really wanted to finish with our scissors. so at the groin you can easily blend everything in with each other. A bit further we do that again and it’s actually lifting the hairs.
You will see the hair sticking out and you can finish them off by scissoring them smooth. When you look at the front of the dog the neck needs to be straight and not bubbling out.
Because it is a commercial line. We are working ourselves towards the head. As soon as the back is done and we are happy about the back then we are going to finish the neck and then do the head.
the neck needs to be totally blended in with his body always using a straight scissor. But when you’re a fan of curved scissors you can totally use curved scissors to do this part.
Changing to a curved scissor and it should make our life easier. when you stand there on his left side looking over his right side you can see the profiles. When you comb up you can see the hair sticking out very much. You can do the right side of his neck.
Now the head. When I do the head I prefer to do the outside. I make sure that the line between the eye and the ear is perfect. What is important when you do the poodle’s head is that you always keep the nose horizontal.
You keep the ear in his natural position. If you would pull the ear and then do the line you would go too short after you stop pulling the ear. So, never pull his ears out for doing these lines. Holding the ear up but no pulling.
For the finish just using some Quick Fix spray. When you spray some Quick Fix spray, you will see the points better where you need to scissor and then it’s easy scissoring.
And when it’s too long there you can’t make the dog slim at the top. Because it’s commercial it needs to be as slim at the top as at the bottom of the legs.
Everything to the front, comb, comb, comb. Then doing the front all around. Then that’s going to create a base for scissoring the tail. Then the only thing you need to do is comb and scissor and comb and scissor until you are totally happy with the result.
So, here you go. Here you see a happy finish. I really hope you enjoyed the grooming tips .There is a link to all the products below.
