If you’re keeping a dog – like the Golden doodle puppies here – for a pet, you have to prepare your mind for a taxing grooming experience. From time to time, there’s a need to bath, cut, trim, and brush various parts of their body to keep them in shape and attractive.
Unlike other dog breeds, which can go days or weeks without grooming, Goldendoodles demand regular grooming attention. Otherwise, their coats would tangle up, or their nails would become too unfriendly, causing them to lose some of the traits that make them such an adorable breed in the first place.
In this article, you’ll learn all that you need to know about how to groom a Goldendoodle dog.
What you’ll find in this article
- Goldendoodle coat types and grooming frequency
- The importance of grooming to Goldendoodles
- Steps to follow to groom a Goldendoodle
1. Goldendoodle coat types and grooming frequency
Broadly speaking, Goldendoodles exist in three coat types, which are straight, wavy, and curly. Now, how often a groodle demands grooming will depend on the type of coat it has.
For instance, if your Goldendoodle comes with a straight coat, you can expect to groom him at least once or at most a couple of times in a month. This is because straight coats don’t easily tangle or mat up, and they also don’t get dirty too quickly. On the downside, groodles with straight coats often lack that trademark teddy bear look of Goldendoodles.
If your doodle comes with a wavy coat, the grooming frequency would be a weekly thing – that is, once in a week. Although this might seem like a rather taxing requirement, the fact that wavy coats shed the least – great for people with dog allergies – should be enough reason to love this coat type the more.
Curly coats, however, are the most difficult coat type to groom. Whether you like it or not, you have to brush their coats almost every day. Otherwise, it would mat up.
2. The importance of grooming to Goldendoodles
In case you’re wondering why it’s so important to groom a Goldendoodle, here is a rundown of the reasons why:
- Grooming is one of the easiest ways to bond with a Goldendoodle.
- Due to the fluffy nature of their coats, it’s quite easy for dirt, mud, and other external agents to hide beneath their furs. Grooming helps you keep them free of these things and clean at all times.
- Grooming ventilates the coat, leading to the growth of healthy and strong hair, whilst removing old and damaged hair.
- Grooming helps to bring out the natural oils in the dog’s fur.
- A good way to spot skin problems, especially dandruff.
3. Steps to follow to groom a Goldendoodle
Step 1. Brushing
Brushing is the first and basic step of grooming a groodle.
- How often should you brush?
As earlier mentioned, the frequency of brushing a groodle will depend on the nature of their coat. But if you have the time, you can make brushing a daily thing. The more often you brush their coats, the neater and cuter they look.
- What to do if you find a mat?
It is not uncommon to notice mats in your dog’s coat while brushing him. But be careful not to try and remove the mat using a brush. It’s advisable to cut mats off instead.
- How to properly brush a Goldendoodle:
Starting from the bottom, start by brushing a line of hair away and then pull a small portion down away. As you move up gradually, you want to ensure that you see the skin directly with each line you brush.
Step 2. Shaving
Even if you brush your dog’s hair every day, it’s not uncommon to find tangles and mats in some areas, especially if the dog has a curly or wavy coat. The best thing to do is to shave off the hair from these areas regularly. And even if you wish to leave hair there, you should ensure that it’s trimmed at all times. This way, it would become impossible for the areas to mat up.
Some of these areas include the belly region, the genital area, the ear canal, and the anus.
Step 3. Hair Plucking
It is highly recommended that you should pluck the hair from your dog’s ear at all times. Even if you don’t remember to do this often, you can make it a part of the bathing process so that anytime you intend to bath your groodle; this would be the first thing you do.
Removing ear hair is important because the hair in the ear canal can trap moisture, dirt, and bacteria, leading to ear infections. But be gentle with the process because plucking ear hair can be quite painful.
Step 4. Bathing
First and foremost, before you begin the bathing process, you have to ensure that there are no mats or tangles in your dog’s fur. Trust me; you don’t want to bath a matted groodle. To begin the process, you’ll need to get your metal flee comb, shampoo, bowls, towels, dryer, and dog conditioner ready.
Once all of these are on ground, then you’re good to go. The good thing about doodles is that they love water (hydrophilic), so you shouldn’t have a problem washing them up. But to make the whole process more fun, you can start by playing their favorite song in the background, tickling and playing with them, or you can just keep them engaged by talking to them.
Wash as much as it pleases you, but be sure to rinse every bit of the shampoo out. After drying out a bit of the moisture using towels, you can then use a pet blow dryer to finish the job. But be sure to brush in the direction of hair growth when blow drying to prevent the dried hair from tangling up.
Step 5. After bathing
Finally, you’ll have to comb and trim your Goldendoodle once you’re done washing and drying him. This is to smoothen the coat and to remove every form of outgrown hair. Bear in mind, though, that the hair has to be completely dry before you start combing it. Otherwise, it would tangle up.
