The Poodle is a high maintenance breed, but the cost of grooming is a small price to pay for canine companionship that is without equal.
Unlike other animals which have fur, the Poodle coat is comprised of hair, similar to that of a human, and it never stops growing. In young puppies, their hair is soft and can vary between soft waves to pronounced curls. As the puppy grows, so does the time required for grooming. As the Standard Poodle puppy matures, he will go through a coat change. When this occurs varies from dog to dog, but it usually happens when the puppy is between 9 and 18 months. During this coat change, it may be necessary to brush your poodle on a daily basis to prevent him from becoming matted.
BASIC GROOMING EQUIPMENT
Here is my opinion on what basic equipment is necessary to start grooming your poodle yourself.
Good clippers - Andis, Oster, Wahl are the main choices - I personally do not think that Laube holds up well enough for the money.
from left right: Andis Super 2 speed, Andis 2 speed, Oster Golden A-5, Oster Finisher/trimmer, Wahl cordless trimmer
Several clipper blades in varying sizes - a 10 or 15 blade for the face, feet & tail if you are new to clipper work, OR if you have a dog with very sensitive skin that might clipper burn easily. A 3F, 4F, 5F or 7F for the body, depending upon what length you prefer.
A small container for holding blade wash, everyday blade caddy to hold blades as I work, larger case to hold blades back from service or going out to be serviced
Firm, stable working surface - if not a grooming table, a board with a non-skid bathmat securely fastened to the top of a crate will work also.
Some sort of dryer - a stand dryer is the best, but the most expensive. A force air works great on shorter coats, but not fabulous for long show coats. In a pinch, a personal hand-held blow dryer will work, but it helps if both hands are free. There are clamps sold in dog supply catalogs that work as a "third hand", that can hold the blow-dryer as you brush your dog dry.
BRUSHES and COMBS –
Pin brushes are used for LONG hair - not necessary on shorter trims.
Slicker brushes - two types are useful - the curved "Universal" style slicker which is good for thick, heavy or slightly matted coats but rough on the skin.
Softer Slicker such as "Ever Gentle", "Warner's", "DoggyMan", etc. These are used for general brushing.
Greyhound style comb. Thisis used for combing and fluffing hair.
Pin brushes, slicker brushes & combs
Nail trimmers and Kwik Stop (for the nail that is cut too short and bleeds)
Ear cleaners and ear powder and hemostats for pulling the hair if you choose to go this route to maintaining ears.
Scissors - minimum 8" straight when working on a Standard (I prefer 10" and use both straight and curved)
Conditioning spray to use when brushing long coats (something like Magic Touch-Crown Royal #3)
OPTIONAL - rubber bands and plastic wrap. It is not necessary to buy expensive color coordinated rubber bands and wraps. You can go to the local beauty supply shop and pick up a bag of 500 bands for under $2.00, and you can use cheap sandwich baggies (twist tie type) to use as wraps. It is also handy to have smaller bands on hand
These items can be purchased at: www.laineeltd.com
BATHING AND DRYING -
One of the most important things to remember when bathing your dog, is to make sure EVERY bit of shampoo is rinsed out. If any shampoo is left in, it can irritate the skin, create more matting problems, or just look greasy.
To apply the shampoo, I use a pump style garden sprayer. I put the diluted shampoo into the container and pump it up to pressurize it. To apply, simply spray evenly over the dog. This will put a fine coat of shampoo evenly upon the dog, and make it easier to lather and rinse.
To wet/rinse the dog, I have a very simple spray hose with an on/off valve right at the sprayer - this allows me to shut the water off while lathering, but maintain the right water temperature.
Unless your dog is clipped very short all over, including the topknot, tail and ears I think it is important to hand dry the hair. If you allow it to air dry, it will get very curly and you will not be able to properly straighten it to finish the groom. Also, because of the tight curls poodles have, when you allow your poodle's coat to air dry those tight curls can lead to future mats.
A big key to having a groom look good longer is the finish drying. If you take the time to brush as you dry and straighten the hair, it will stay fuller and fluffier longer than if you let it air dry and then brush it out. Yes, when you air dry the coat, and brush it, it will look fluffy, but not for long. The curls are set into the hair as it dries, which is why I feel it is important to gently pull the hair straight with a brush as you dry.
If you are working with a long coat, the drying technique is the same as the brushing out technique, except you have a dryer focused on the area you are working on. Because the coat is wet, you do not need to mist it with a conditioner.
Force air drying a lamb trim - I only do this to the point where the dog is damp dry, and then go over with a brush and stand dryer to really straighten & fluff the hair before scissoring.
BRUSHING
It is imperative that your dog be brushed AND combed completely, as any mats or snarls left in will only get worse after the bathing. On pet trims, I find it easiest to divide the dog into sections when working. I will brush and comb one leg at a time, then go and brush the tail, topknot and ears. The biggest problems I have as a groomer are owners that do brush their dogs, but do not comb them. It is very easy to think that you are doing a proper job, but unless you run a comb through, you can never be sure that you have brushed all the way to the skin, and removed every knot and tangle. If you are trying to grow a long coat, remember to never brush a coat dry, as the static can cause the ends to break. Also, try not to brush a dirty coat. If you stay on top of things, and brush every couple of days (as needed) if your dog gets dirty - just put straight into the bath and brush carefully as you are drying.
When brushing a long coat/show coat, always start from the tips and work towards the skin in smooth motions. Learn not to flick your wrist as you near the ends, as this will break the ends off the coat. By working from the ends to the skin, you will lose less coat if you come across a tangle. If you start at the skin and pull up towards the ends, when you come across a knot, you will drag it through the whole length of the coat and cause more damage to the coat.
I only use a pin brush on the long coat, as it is softer and easier on long hair than a slicker brush. I use a technique called LINE BRUSHING when working on long coats. My dogs lay on their side, and I part the hair from head to tail, and brush and comb this area, and then bring down a little more hair from above the part (moving the part from the spine to the belly). Each section is brushed and then combed before moving to the next section. Before I start brushing, I give a quick, LIGHT mist of conditioner over the coat.
This helps to keep the static down, and helps give the coat a little protection while brushing. I spray each section as I work on it. It is a VERY light mist, and the coat is NOT wet, only slightly damp. It dries very quickly - long before moving to the next section. In the winter, when there is more static in the air, I might have to spritz a second time to keep the static down.
Make sure your brush is in good condition - broken, bent or missing pins can damage the coat.
A damaged pin brush (note the bent pins)
A new brush in good condition
Outline below are detailed instructions and pictures outlining a very popular pet trim for poodles, the Lamb Trim. I have elected to include a standard poodle as a model so that you can see the steps on a larger dog. The steps outlined below are the same for each variety (standard, miniature, and toy).
The LAMB TRIM ~ PRE-BATH
Before & After photos:
To start, I clip the body with a 5F - you can go shorter or longer, it all depends upon how short or how plush you want the body to be. I start by clipping the face, feet, tail & tummy, then with a 5F blade just under the ear, I clip the neck area leaving the back of the neck to be scissored into the topknot.
The arrows show the direction that I clip
I clip the shoulder area just about half way from the top of the shoulder to the point of the elbow - I don't' measure, I just eyeball it. The photos should give you a general idea of about where to clip.
To set the back edge of the front leg, I clip straight down - not close to the leg, but about where the elbow would be if you measured from the elbow and went up.
From this photo, you can see that by clipping straight down, there is a lot of hair left behind the elbow - this will get scissored later, so that the front leg forms a column and there is not a "hole" behind the elbow. What I am doing in this photo is clipping just under the ribs between the two front legs.
Clipping the rear legs, I look at where I want the "tuck up", and form a nice rounded area up to the top of the hips.
This is a view of the front of the dog, showing the direction that I clip, and the approximate areas where I stop on the front legs - (it's even, my lines are crooked!)
This is the roughed in trim, before the bath. I am one of those groomers that prefer to clip a lot of the excess hair off before the bath.
LAMB TRIM - FINISHING AFTER THE BATH
After bathing & fluff drying, it's time to scissor and finish the trim.
Once the coat is dry, I go back over the body (on short trims) with the same length blade that I used to rough in before the bath. You will be amazed at how uneven the coat is after bathing and drying (unless you use a blade that takes the coat down very close, like a 10 blade).
When scissoring, I find that visualizing how you want to finished trim to look like really helps. Pick up your shears, using your thumb and RING FINGER. Your index and middle fingers are used to support the blade; your pinky should be on the finger rest to assist in the balance. You should only move your thumb to cut and your fingers guide the shears.
Now, this takes practice, but when scissoring coat, move in a smooth motion using the whole blade. Do not use little snips picking at the coat, as you will not get a nice smooth finish. Practice with your shears before you approach the coat - using only your thumb to 'drive' the shears, and your fingers to steer, move your hand in a smooth flowing motion. Now try to apply this to the hair. Remember, practice makes perfect, and hair will grow back!
Combing is a very important part of scissoring. You need to use your comb to "fluff up" the area that you are scissoring. Fluff, scissor, fluff, scissor and when you are finished scissoring, comb again to remove excess hair trimmings.
I am one who likes to have all the lines blended smooth, so there is no distinct break between the body, legs or neck.
I scissor the upper part of the thigh close - blending into the body on the top and front, and on the rear of the thigh, I scissor very close to make it appear the dog has more angelation.
Ideally, the inside of the rear leg should be straight, however, this dog's owner has requested that I scissor the upper part of the thigh shorter. The reason the leg looks darker in some areas is because that is this dog's dark skin showing through - that's how closely I scissor the backs of the thighs.
Finished rear leg
I like the front legs to look like smooth, straight columns (see below)
After the bath, the legs are really full and fluffy, and the shoulder area needs to be taken down so that it blends smoothly into the clipped area of the body
Front view of one finished leg, and the other being blended and scissored to match
To scissor the topknot, comb all the hair over to one side, and following the gentle curve of the head, scissor from the eye to over the ear and stop just behind the ear. Comb the hair again, and scissor the same line again.
MAKE SURE YOUR SCISSORS ARE STRAIGHT UP/DOWN OR LEANING SLIGHTLY OUT AWAY FROM THE HEAD AS YOU SCISSOR - This is VERY important. If you angle the shears towards the center of the head as you scissor, you will cut too close, and you will then have to trim the topknot VERY short to even it all out.
Okay, now if you have combed, scissored, & combed, scissored again, you should have a fairly clean line. Now do the exact same thing on the other side.
Once both sides have been trimmed this way, take your comb and fluff all the hair up - you should see a nice curve on each side going towards the center. Now, trim the center so that it blends into the curves. Looking straight at the dog, you should have a very nice rounded topknot.
The next step is to comb everything forward towards the eyes, and again, a nice curve from eye to eye, trim all the hair that hangs past the eyeballs. Keep your shears either straight up and down or leaning out towards the nose as you trim.
Okay, you have just finished the front and top of the topknot - on to the back of the head and neck area.
I lift up the ear, and trim the long hair that was not clippered - at this point, I lean the shears inward slightly, and trim the hair that hangs over the clippered line. Do both sides (of course) - Now, stand the dog up (if not already standing) and comb/fluff all the hair up and scissor blend the back of the topknot and neck into the clippered area. By the time you get to the base of the neck, the hair will be scissored about as short as the clippered area. I prefer a straighter neck, so I trim the hair shorter and in a straighter line from topknot to neck - there is a slight curve, but not pronounced. Others like to see more of an "arch" to the neck, and leave more neck hair and scissor it into the topknot - it is a matter of personal preference.
Finishing up, just trim the bottoms of the ears, so that they look neat and trim.
The finished look – The Lamb Trim
I want to extend a very special Thank You to Cathy McGinnis of Ridgewood Standard Poodles for allowing me to copy and share this information with you as she created all grooming information and pictures. Please visit her site (www.ridgewoodpoodles.com) for additional poodle information or if you are looking for a quality standard poodle breeder!
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