# so fluffy?



## shalynn (Mar 18, 2010)

im not sure how to start this but here it goes, im new here and to the poodle world, i have never had one before till about 6 months ago i got my first standard poodle male. He is an awsome pup, but my problem is i dont know alot about the breed and the grooming, he has had regular baths and cuts but they are just simple and short everywhere. Im getting ready to try a new groomer and i would really love to have him in a more traditional cut and be fluffy but i dont know how to get him fluffy, his top not was shaved pretty small about two months ago and it dont seem to be growing much at all so he looks wierd to me, any sujjestions or advise would be very appreciated. Sorry about the kids not being dressed right and the quality of pics, my camera spent the night out in the cold car so the lens was foggin up on me lol, so here he is as of today( i know he looks bad )


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## plumcrazy (Sep 11, 2009)

Hi Shalynn!

Your boy looks like a sweetheart!! To answer your question about the "fluffies" - that comes from using a velocity or force hair dryer. These are not the hairdryers humans use - they blow air at a much higher velocity and actually blow the water off of the coat instead of drying it with heat. When the coat is blown so forcefully, it helps the hair stay straight instead of curly - and it's the straight hair which causes the fluffiness we love in our poodles.

Mannie does have a very short topknot (and a long beard!!) :lol: All that will help with that is the time it takes for it to grow out more - if that's what you want.

Have you been grooming him yourself or taking him to a professional dog groomer?? The reason I ask is because it seems that his feet are shaved awfully "high" up onto his ankles. When I shave my Lucybug's feet, I'm careful not to go too high or it looks like "highwater" pants!  I only shave the FOOT itself and do not go to the ankle at all. Basically just the toes and a smidge beyond and then stop.

If you hang around the forum long enough you will learn many, many great new techniques and ideas that are specific to our wonderful poodles. Someday I will have a simple clip on my 6 1/2 month old Lucy, but this is what she looks like now...











Edited to add: I went back and looked at your pictures a little closer and found a couple more hints to help him look more like what a poodle should look like... He is shaved too high on his face, too - My breeder has been very helpful in helping me understand that when I shave Lucy's face to never shave higher on her nose than right between the inside corners of her eyes - so JUST to the imaginary line that runs between the inside corners of her eyes then stop...Nothing should be shaved above the eyes at all (if you want the topknot to look "right")

A friend of mine adopted a rescue standard poodle that my family was fostering a little over a year ago and they really like to keep his clip simple and short. I babysit Dolce from time-to-time and I see that they do clip above his eyes and it really looks a little wonky. We LOVE Dolce any way he looks - but he really doesn't have the flair of a lot of standard poodles who are groomed more to the standard of the breed. (we never tell him he looks funny, though!) LOL!

The other thing I noticed in his pictures is that his shaved tail area is quite long - If you look at my picture of Lucybug, you'll see that the shaved part of her tail is only a couple of inches (and the groomer told me I had been shaving a little too much when I had been doing it so we're bringing that line down a little... Ooops!  )

Mannie looks like a handsome man no matter what, and I can see that his human children love him! These are just some things that I've learned by being a new poodle momma (we've only had Lucy for 4 1/2 months!) and keeping in close contact with my breeder - who used to be a professional groomer; and by asking lots of questions on this forum (and reading the answers to the questions I had forgotton to ask!)

Have a great weekend!


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## BFF (Jun 10, 2009)

He has such an adorable expression. What a ham.

I would add that the fun with poodles is that they can be put into all sorts of haircuts, just like we do. You have already experimented with some fun things, like the beard. 

A lot of people have a difficult time expressing what they want with a groomer. If the groomer doesn't do poodles all of the time, they may not know the questions to ask you either. Browse around the forum and find a picture (or several) that have the parts of the haircut you would like to try. Like a particular topknot, ears, body, legs, ect. It looks like there are some places that will need to grow if you want a more traditional look. That's ok. The picture will give the groomer a good idea of your overall goal over time.

One of the members drew several different styles then even made up some new ones. I think it is great inspiration when you are considering a new hairstyle. Here you go...

http://www.poodleforum.com/9-poodle-grooming/4877-poodle-clips.html


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## Olie (Oct 10, 2009)

Here are my suggestions - I am not a groomer BUT I do trim my poodles and have done some not so bad amature trims/cuts and took all the advice the more experienced people have had.

*Let the hair grow out on the top knot and as PC said do not trim the hair above those corners at the eyes.
*Please let the ancles and legs grow - even if it drives you nuts for a minute let them grow out, the feet ancles are cut really high up into the leg - they are seperate

In the feet - I hope I explain this right. When you feel the last knuckle in the foot do not trim past that. 

Once you let him grow out some you will see it shaping itself and by watching it grow and checking pics out on here you will see where the trimming should take place. Your dog is a sweetheart, and will look ever more sweet with some length. The fluffys come from a high powered dryer. I temporarily use a small shop vac in reverse HEHE - but it was a recommendation from a forum member and for not it works alright

Search the older posts and you can find loads of pics to work from. I am looking for flyingdusters Paris at the moment to gage a trim as we speak LOL


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## shalynn (Mar 18, 2010)

thank you guys so much for the tips, i will take the advise i know it will drive me nutts lol but i think i can do it, i found a couple cuts i do like but one thing i saw on a poodle is a ear cut that made them look like bells and i just love that. hopefully this new groomer i found will be able to do a decent job and i'll have to start looking for a dryer, hopefully he wont totally flip out on me when i use one for the first time lol i hope noone here gets upset on how little i know and how bad im doing so far, please give me time and i'll learn how to do this all the right way. I never thought i would ever like the poodles but im finding its a great breed, and i want to learn as much as i can. Thank you again it really means alot to me.


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## flufflvr (Mar 20, 2010)

I groom Liberty myself, and for the first 6 months she looked pretty scary. I made every mistake imaginable. I shaved above her eyes, and too high up her legs, and her poor top knot...let's not even go there. Fortunately over the past 5 years I've gotten a lot better at it, and now no one can tell that I groom her myself. I know you're taking Mannie to a groomer, so I'm not sure if this would be helpful, but a book I've found that really helped me is by Shirley Kalstone. She outlines in detail how to do the grooming in almost all of those cute clips in the drawings above, with lots of diagrams, helpful tips, and pictures. Another helpful resource is youtube. Lots of groomers have posted how to groom a poodle, and you can watch them do it in a video, rather than just in drawings. Some are better than others, but you can look at the dogs themselves to judge if the video is a good one or not. Good luck!

Shirley Kalstone Book


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