# Question about Poodle's Coat



## spoospirit (Mar 10, 2009)

_I have been told that if you shave the puppy coat, it makes things easier for you and the dog when their adult coat comes in by reducing problems with mats and such.
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## highhorse (Sep 17, 2008)

Shaving the puppy hair will save you problems when the adult hair comes through, but generally, if your puppy coat is good, the adult coat will also be good. I personally wouldn't shave my puppy bald as I love the babyish fluffy look of puppies before we start to mess about with their coats. When Inca was cut into puppy pants at the age of 5 months, her baby look disappeared completely and she became all grown up. I might add - in looks - but not in behaviour.


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## WonderPup (Oct 26, 2008)

in some double coated breeder (not poodles) when you shave the hair super short it grows back thicker than it was before. Without getting all complex about the explination it has something to do with the fact that the under coat grows back faster than the gaurd hairs. 

I have never heard of anything trying to improve a poodle coat by shaving it though. I shaved the rosettes off of one of my client's standards and now they are almost grown back the texture is very course. She hates it of course... but it isn't my fault. The rest of the rear end that gets shaved grows back soft, not sure why the rosettes didn't do the same thing??


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## frostfirestandards (Jun 18, 2009)

shaving only gives the appearance of the coat coming in better. Genetics and nutition ,heath and age make the coat what it is 


I wouldnt shave them bald, but maybe use a guard comb to take off the wispys 
the shortest I would take a puppy's coat is a 3 blade or 5/8 blade, unless it was matted


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## spoofan (Dec 11, 2008)

Shaving it off might make it easier,but I really don't think it will result in a better quality coat.


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## jak (Aug 15, 2009)

Poodles coat changes from lovely soft and fluffly to harsh dense and curly when they are around 1 yr old. The change is usually gradual, and can take months. Most people clip their dogs off over this period as the weird coat is prone to more matting than usual.


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## Mandycasey'smom (Jan 3, 2009)

and the amount of matting has something to do with what they lay on.
I had thrown down a old car matt while washing their blanket and what a mess a few days of that wool blanket made. I ended up shaving Mandy back to bikini clip and cutting out tonnes on Caseys legs and trimming his lamb clip way back thanks to that dam wool blanket that is now gone from their pile


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## SophieGirl (Jul 17, 2009)

Shaving her down is really going to make life easier on her and you. puppy coats web and matt really easy and so if you keep up with brushing it can be painful for the pup. Plus it will allow you to have more time not having to worry about it. You dont have to shave her to the skin though you could leave some hair and it would still be easier than full puppy coat.


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## Fluffyspoos (Aug 11, 2009)

I agree with frostfire, a #3 blade is the shortest I'd go.

With dogs that grow hair instead of fur, I don't think it really does much to the texture. I know though that with dogs that traditionally get hand stripped, when they get clippered their coat starts getting softer, like westies and schnauzers.

When I get my standards, I'm probably going to keep them pretty short as puppies for a couple reasons. I'm getting 3 puppies at once from the same litter and want to keep them all cleaner, and I'm going to be training 2 to be retrievers, that means they're going to be in the dirt and mud and water a lot and I'm going to be training so much that grooming won't be my priority.

So we'll have 1 super fluffy poodle puppy, and 2 muddy things, lol.


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## Bella's Momma (Jul 26, 2009)

When do their adult coats start to come in? And while we're at it, how about teeth?


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## jak (Aug 15, 2009)

Fluffyspoos said:


> I agree with frostfire, a #3 blade is the shortest I'd go.
> 
> I'm getting 3 puppies at once from the same litter


Wow, you are truly dedicated. One puppy at a time is more than enough for me lol


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## stepanelle (Aug 3, 2009)

Hi I was told this many years ago when I first started showing my poodles. I clipped a puppy that I was keeping from a litter of 4 toys. I kept Eric and clipped him with a 5 blade on Oster and left his head, ears, tail and neck hair, all his sisters looked adorable when they left for their new homes Eric looked awful!! His coat did grow back great; but I truly think he would have had a lovely coat anyways. He is now 16 1/2 with a lovely coat still.

My latest showboy Dom; I left his coat on till the last minute before I showed him. Then just trimmed him before his first show, he too has a fantastic coat which is often remarked on for thickness and sheen.

Basically what I am saying is I don't think it makes much difference, just care for it, keep it brushed right through and bathed at least once a month, feed well and you will have the best coat your dog can have!!


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