# Anyone Corded their Poodles?



## Sawyersmomma

I Love the look of the corded poodle, particularly this kind... http://www.petsplace.co.za/corded-poodle.jpg
I know a lot of work is involved keeping it clean enough, but how does one go about doing this? Sawyer's still got most of his puppy coat so I assume I won't be able to do this until his full coat comes in... but is there a "Cording Poodle Coat-For Dummies" type deal anywhere? lol
Or any advice? If you have pics of your corded poodles I'd love to see them


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## Fluffyspoos

Faerie's Temperance has a corded tail and topknot, I'm sure she can give you loads of info!


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## Jacamar

Nice pics of a corded spoo here:

Dogs boarding cats daycare kennels resorts tampa valrico brandon florida


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## faerie

temperance's topknot and tail are now fully corded. it's been about 18 months. i started on her when she was 14 months. her ear fringe is kept brushed but is not corded. (challenging!)

i've toyed with the idea of fully cording her in a hcc, but i opted not to because she sleeps in the bed with me and i like a bit of fluff to snuggle with 

basically, i started out by giving her a bath and not drying her w/ a dryer! i towel dried (blotting it not rubbing) and let it go. i use shampoo but no conditioners on her tk and tail. the hair naturally separates in sections so that is what the cords will be. you can see here. this is day one: 


poodle topknot. not blown dry nor brushed. gonna start cording! by faerie made, on Flickr 

. as it would mat i'd pull apart to separate a bit. early on i'd mist her hair and scrunch.


2 weeks in cording. she's getting more of these. i mist daily, scrunch and separate. by faerie made, on Flickr

three months in 
Temperance cords, april 15. Three months in by faerie made, on Flickr

4 months


Cords 4 months in by faerie made, on Flickr

6 months in


cords july 2011 by faerie made, on Flickr

9 months 

October by faerie made, on Flickr

one year :


Morning sun by faerie made, on Flickr


18 months in:



Untitled by faerie made, on Flickr


the ends have been trimmed up a bit to keep them a bit less scraggly and to tidy them up.

the front of her tk is not well corded because she loves to rub her head against me. i'm fine with that. i think it's cute. 
i'll try to take a closer shot of her head later on so you can see them close up.


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## Jacamar

Awesome pics and explanation, faerie.

I bet you get a lot of questions and attention when you take her places?


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## faerie

yes. and pics taken too. we hear a lot of "oh my, rasta dog!"

the other day i had girls day out with temperance, my daughter and myself and so many people were fascinated by her.


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## Sawyersmomma

Thanks! That's awesome, I love it! when you trim the ends do you have to backcomb it a bit after to lock it up so they don't unravel at the tips?


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## faerie

no. i didn't backcomb. they weren't trimmed until they were fully locked which took over a year. i did snip a few scraggly ends here and there. but she looked fairly scraggly for a while. this definitely requires patience!

she's got a lot of new growth coming in on her topknot that i'm futzing with. my son who had dreadlocks for about 5 years is always yelling at me "QUIT OBSESSING!"
less is more, he tells me. (he locked his hair twice. first time he futzed a lot. the second he didn't and they were better)

(he gets annoyed when i ask him about when he had his hair corded ... "DREADLOCKS mom ... i'm not a poodle!!") :aetsch:

here is a pic i took with my iphone the other day when temperance and i were out running deliveries. played around w/ editing in camera+ ... photographing a black dog sucks.

you can kinda see her cords


Dog is my Co-Pilot by faerie made, on Flickr


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## Jacamar

Oo, Cute pic!


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## Leooonie

My (large) miniature poodle Harley used to have cords.. was forced by my parents to shave him down though a couple of months ago...
He was about 8 months into the process. unfortunatel his head cords were completely ruined in the first few months due to my housemates stupidly giving him a bath and scrubbing his head....
but here he was!(and i was) with our cords and my dreads 









he was in a HCC 

I would love to cord my army of show poodles (eventually ahha...) which i think'd be awesome


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## Jacamar

Very pretty dog. And yeah, she sure looks large for a mini.


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## Anntig

Here's my Zeph in her 'corded ponydoodle' style her TK and tail have been corded for almost 18 months the mane and legs are about 8 months in.
I banded her tk to get it to cord which seemed to work


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## Jacamar

Very nice. I really like the overall look of her topknot, face, and ears.


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## Sawyersmomma

So dumb question. What part is the mane? :embarrassed: like just the top of the neck or something? I'd love to see pics of that! =D Sawyer has an allergy problem and is constantly scratching his head, there's a line across where he's basically broke the hair from scratching. I most likely wouldn't be able to cord it until we've got his allergy problem fixed, right?


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## Anntig

Here's a pic that shows the mane a little better, the TK traditionally ends just below the occiput (the bony knob at the back of the head) but in a ponydoodle clip you extend the coat down to the start of the shoulderblades mimicking a horses mane, If you look closely you can see the cords in the TK are much tighter and better developed, wheras the lower ones are still a bit looser as they were started much later.

And yeah you'd probably have to wait until his hair is growing back normaly, Zeph rubs the front of her head and it ruins the cords, I usually just keep them up in pigtails out of her way.


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## Sawyersmomma

Oh my goodness I love it! That looks AWESOME! and you're cording the pompoms on the legs too?


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## Anntig

Thanks, Yup I'm finding them a bit harder as it's tricky to dry the feet without blowing the legs as well but they're slowly forming, they do attract a lot of debris though that has to be picked out.


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## faerie

i'm growing temperance into a mane too w/ cords. right now she looks funny  

i started cording her bracelets last year and the amount of dirt/mud on the bed made me stop (blech). in fact, i shaved off her brushed bracelets this spring because of the same reason. she's outside a lot.


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## Leooonie

faerie said:


> i started cording her bracelets last year and the amount of dirt/mud on the bed made me stop (blech). QUOTE]
> 
> i found that it was very very very very difficult to keep Harleys corded bracelets clean... in fcat I invested in a number of different protectors... none of which were any good cos he loves ot run about really fast and they all fall off! so next time I am going to buy one of the PoodleIt full body suits for him!!!!


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## Sawyersmomma

thanks! No bracelets for Sawyer then haha we go hiking almost everyday and his legs get caked in mud and thistles and stuff


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## Jacamar

Went to a dog show yesterday and saw this corded poodle.


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## zyrcona

Apparently, a chap is writing a book on how to cord poodles. I tend not to like how it looks as a work in progress, and some dogs just seem to look gruesome in it, but I must admit the black/blue boy in the pictures is magnificent with his long dreadlocks.


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## pap2labc

Hey Jacamar!

I was at the Orlando shows over the weekend and saw the same corded poodle...very neat. I was there showing a Belgian Laekenois.


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## Sawyersmomma

wow! it's gorgeous!


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## Jacamar

pap2labc said:


> Hey Jacamar!
> 
> I was at the Orlando shows over the weekend and saw the same corded poodle...very neat. I was there showing a Belgian Laekenois.


Hey Pap2labc! Dog shows are great, I wish there was one every weekend!


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## Leooonie

zyrcona said:


> Apparently, a chap is writing a book on how to cord poodles. I tend not to like how it looks as a work in progress, and some dogs just seem to look gruesome in it, but I must admit the black/blue boy in the pictures is magnificent with his long dreadlocks.


I would say that man is the veritable world 'expert' on corded poodles in show. he has successfully finished a number of corded spoos I believe... definately worth the money when the book is finished...!!!


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## Kloliver

Leooonie said:


> faerie said:
> 
> 
> 
> i started cording her bracelets last year and the amount of dirt/mud on the bed made me stop (blech). QUOTE]
> 
> i found that it was very very very very difficult to keep Harleys corded bracelets clean... in fcat I invested in a number of different protectors... none of which were any good cos he loves ot run about really fast and they all fall off! so next time I am going to buy one of the PoodleIt full body suits for him!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> I found the same with the PI bracelets. Rango wld bolt & off they came in the tall grass. He hates them but for some reason forgets that when he retrieves them (sometimes months later & oh sooooo proudly)
> 
> That said, he has an exasperating prediliction for peeing his front bracelets. How awful must this be for cords? (I shudder to guess)
Click to expand...


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