Grooming That Floof!

Happy Friday everyone! Today on the blog I want to give you all some tips and tricks to maintain your pups floof to its optimal cuteness. It’s amazing the difference a good or bad haircut can make on a dogs appearance. I’ll attach some photos on the bottom of what a horrible haircut can do. You wont even recognize Stasia and Seb! Now, I’m not an expert groomer (Yet! Although I am determined to get there someday!!) but after many, many hack jobs at multiple groomers and my babies coming home looking like a rat dog or a ridiculous looking poodle (not to mention what I paid for said cut)… I decided to figure it out myself! So last year for my birthday I ordered myself a table, clippers, comb attachments, grooming comb and sheers. Now just this past month I finally ordered a dog blow dryer. As soon as I plugged that beauty in and started to let it do its magic on Seb I hated myself for not buying it sooner!! Life. Changing. I’ll link everything I use down at the bottom, but to begin with, lets start with the basics…

As you know Cockapoos don’t shed, this means their hair just continually grows. So some places that need regular trimmings are: between their paw pads, under their tail/ around their butt, their ears and between and around their eyes. If you can figure out how to do this you can go much longer between full groomings. They wont like it at first! But keep at it and they will get used to it. I start trimming our puppies around 4 weeks old to condition them to get used to it. So its important to start as early as possible and do it regularly so they stay comfortable with it and its less of a struggle for both of you.  I admit there are times I have one of the kids sit next to me while I clip away and they continually feed the pup pieces of treats to distract them long enough so I can get the job done!

For their bangs, I rest the bottom side of the lower blade of the scissors across the bridge of their nose and cut across. This keeps their bang floof straight and from hanging in their eyes:

For the corners of their eyes, this is tricky!! Be sure that you hold their head steady and angle the scissor tips pointing up and away from their face. Also be sure to everyday clean away any eye boogers to prevent tear staining and eye infections. They sell wipes but I just use a wet paper towel or wash rag…:

For the feet just be sure to trim all the hair that grows between the pads with either scissors or the trimmers. Seb hates the trimmers on his feet but he’s fine with scissors. Stasia doesn’t mind either way. Here Seb is modeling nicely trimmed pads:

Booties! Booties are my favorite. To keep those grinch feet at bay have your pup stand up and place the scissors on the ground similar to how you had them on the bridge of their nose. Then push the side of scissors up against their toes or as far in as you want (depending on how big or small you want their boots) and trim around the base of their feet working your way around the entire foot. If they keep pulling up their foot, I wrap my arm around their body and hold up the other leg that I’m not trimming so they have to keep the foot that I’m trimming firmly planted on the ground:

If you don’t trim these places regularly they will get infections. You know they have a yeast infection in their ears or their feet if they are constantly chewing on their paws or scratching at their ears. What happens is when their feet or ears get wet and the hair is long the moisture gets trapped in there and its dark. So what grows in wet, dark, warm places? Yeast! Yuck. It stinks too. Every dog is different, some are prone to it while others not so much. Stasia gets ear infections about once or twice a year, while Seb has never had any kind of skin issues. Their butts you know you need to trim when little pieces of poo get stuck in the hair around that area or they start scooting their butts on the floor. Scooting could also be a sign they have full anal glands. Or you might notice a rotting fish odor coming from your pup, this definitely means they have full anal glands. Your vet or groomer can drain those or you can learn to do it yourself. It took me a long time to build up the courage to do it, be warned, it is a gross and very stinky job!

So how often should I bathe my cockapoo? I bathe mine every two- three weeks or so. I have gone as long as 6+ weeks between tubbys. But by then they are stinky! Think of all that you have touched and how often your running your hands on their coats, also they lay on our dirty floors…. Plus they dont shed, so after a few weeks their hair gets gross! Just like our hair would if everyone kept playing with it and we laid on the floor all the time.

Here are the items I use for trimming and grooming:

Comb

Combs for clipper

Sheers

Shampoo

Table

Clippers

Blow dryer

Don’t forget your poof/ loofa! You will save so much money on shampoo using a poof, I use about quarter size dollop and lather it up! I used to have to squirt the bottle down the entire length of their backs and then more on paws and face to get it down to their skin! The loofa works magic! I get mine from target.

As promised! Here are some photos of groomings gone bad:

 

Have a great weekend everyone!

xoxo

Laura, Stasia and Seb