# When was your pup's first haircut, and what did you have done?



## Starla (Nov 5, 2020)

I clipped Phoebe’s body to one inch at 4 months and then last weekend just before 5 months old, I clipped her body again with the 7/8s comb. I wanted to keep her fluff longer, but her coat obviously had sun/chlorine damage from swimming, and it looks so much nicer trimmed. I want to keep her head, legs, and tail long.

last weekends trim:


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## DogtorDoctor (Mar 20, 2020)

Starla said:


> I clipped Phoebe’s body to one inch at 4 months and then last weekend just before 5 months old, I clipped her body again with the 7/8s comb. I wanted to keep her fluff longer, but her coat obviously had sun/chlorine damage from swimming, and it looks so much nicer trimmed. I want to keep her head, legs, and tail long.
> 
> last weekends trim:
> View attachment 481077


Thanks! 1 inch would definitely be more manageable. Phoebe looks absolutely amazing here. What a beautiful girl!


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## 94Magna_Tom (Feb 23, 2021)

Elroy got his 1st haircut at 15 weeks. It was sooo hot, I couldn't leave him long. He got FFT and a generic trim all over.


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## PowersPup (Aug 28, 2020)

Topper got a beautiful groom by his breeder when he was 8 weeks old, just before he came to us. I started taking him to the groomer when he was 12 weeks old, and every month after that. At the first appointment she just did a bath and FFT. I think she did the first body clip when he was four months old. Now she does a bath, blow dry, close shave for FFT, and usually leaves his body 1/2-inch to 3/4-inch long, with a longer topknot, ears and legs. This is very easy to take care of between grooming appointments, yet still looks poodle-ey. It's also fairly cool for our record-breaking hot summer. You can see some photos of his grooms on "52 Weeks of Topper." We may grow his coat a bit longer this winter, depending on how easy it is for me to keep it free of mats at home.


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## Basil_the_Spoo (Sep 1, 2020)

8-1/2 months lol. I kept kicking the can down the road.

I wouldn't worry about the dryer if I were you. He'll be pretty tired and just want to curl up or sit down. It's as soothing as drying your own hair with a blow dryer... white noise... warm.... relaxing.


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## Kait (May 6, 2021)

Tuck was 15 weeks old when he went for his first official groom. He had been getting full grooms at the breeder before he left (and came home with clean face + feet and the base of his tail shaved), and I had been brushing him regularly so it wasn’t a shock to his system. We ditched the clean feet and tail base, redid the clean face and shortened the rest of his coat to one length. Next time I’m going to go shorter, we’re just kind of playing around with lengths to find the perfect length for us.

Before and after:


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## TeamHellhound (Feb 5, 2021)

Keep in mind that it rained practically every day the first couple of months he was home....

We did a Chicago Dutch at around 14 weeks.

2021-5-31 Simon&#x27;s New Clip DSC_0225 by Rosemary Elwell, on Flickr

About a week later, I gave up and put him in what I'm calling a Scruff Puppy, basically a Miami with an untrimmed topknot. 

2021-6-6 Simon&#x27;s first Miami clip DSC_0394 by Rosemary Elwell, on Flickr

At 6 months, he's still in a Scruff Puppy. 

2021-8-23 Dogs DSC_3742 by Rosemary Elwell, on Flickr


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## twyla (Apr 28, 2010)

Since I home groom and all my pups were between 17 1/2 to 22 weeks when I brought them home. I waited a week and gave them a full groom over several days


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

I home groom too. Theo had been groomed regularly by his breeder who shows in conformation… he was in a show puppy clip.

I did FFT every two weeks. However I wanted to keep his puppy hair as long as possible so that my kids could see him (thanks to pandemic they didn’t meet him earlier) with all that hair when he was 6 months. When we came home I clipped him to 1”. Not surprisingly I found the 1” hair was too wavy and the next week I clipped him to 1/2“ which is a good length. Like in humans the longer hair kept the hair from being so curly, it weighed it down.

I really miss his long hair, he looked like a polar bear and it was easy to comb through. He’s 8 months and I will keep him short until he goes through coat change to avoid mats Coat change happens close to or shortly after a year old.


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

Peggy got her first full groom from her breeder, probably around 4 weeks:










She was a fluffy little bear by the time we took her to our groomer for the first time at 14 weeks:










She bathed and blow dried her, and cleaned up her sanitary area and eyes, but mostly just introduced her to the professional grooming environment.

We then took her in every 4 weeks to slowly work her up to a full clip. Our groomer always let Peggy lead. When she entered a fear period at 8 months, right before her first heat, it was our groomer who first detected it. She ended the session, called us, and let Peggy play until we picked her up. She then finished up a few weeks later without issue. That was her first “grown-up” clip:










At Jango’s age, she still looked like this:










Although about a month later, we did beg our groomer to start removing some fluff, which resulted in quite the transformation:


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## Looniesense (Jul 10, 2021)

Another home groomer here. Since I have a cream/white Spoo from 9 weeks to about 4 months old I was doing weekly baths and fft. Then it was starting to take longer and longer to bath and dry him so I did a body trim using 1 inch comb but with the puppy fur it looked uneven so I took it shorter until I settled on using a 5fc blade which is quite short. I wanted to leave his legs and topknot long as I feel there is only one time to have fun with the easy no Matt puppy fluff. The pic below is the look I’m aiming to get:









And here is my Luka. I find it faster to bath and dry him now and still like his puppy top knot and legs.









Here is a side pic taken yesterday. He is starting to get that lion look LOL


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## I_love_dogs (May 30, 2021)

Loki was groomed by the breeder before we got him. He went to his first grooming appointment after his second set of shots. It was feet and face and a slight trim all over if he would cooperate. He is a good puppy, so he got trimmed all over. I do have a HV dryer and he gets a bath at least every other week. I also had him around my husband when he was shaving so he would be used to the sounds.

I have been trying to keep his feet trimmed every two weeks since his last appointment. I am not very good at it, but he doesn't slip and slide on the tile as much. Major issues see are a desire to eat the hair and play with the trimmer while I am trying to trim his feet. I had to buy a cordless because he kept trying to chew on the cord on the corded one. 



He was supposed to go for a full grooming on Friday (4.5 months), but coronavirus hit out house so he is quarantined.


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## DogtorDoctor (Mar 20, 2020)

My goodness, thank you all for the information and pictures! I love seeing all of your pups' before and after pictures. 

@Basil_the_Spoo , thank you for the reassurance! I have no idea how you held out that long. I'm already too impatient with Jango's coat as it is. 😂

@TeamHellhound I absolutely love the Scruffy Puppy. It's perfect and he looks absolutely fabulous.

@PeggyTheParti thank you for the detailed time stamps! Peggy is so beautiful. The pictures of her as a puppy melt my heart.

@I_love_dogs thanks for the list of puppy behaviors to keep an eye out for! I hope that you and your household are well and that Loki can get his groom in the near future.


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## Spottytoes (Jul 28, 2020)

Here’s Bobby’s first “full” groom at the groomer’s at 13 weeks old.









He got his first “clean feet” when he was 5 months old. I almost swooned when I saw his sweet spotty toes.







Bobby was always happy to see our groomer. She did such a great job with him for 2 1/2 years but sadly, she recently moved so now we are learning to groom at home. 😊

This is Bobby’s typical style now done by his groomer…the last one. We like things short with the big Top Knot and fluffy tail. I’m hoping I can can do this style without too much difficulty.


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## PsychoBunny (Jun 12, 2021)

Bunny was just groomed last week at 5 months in the puppy clip.


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## Basil_the_Spoo (Sep 1, 2020)

This thread is super adorable.


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## Johanna (Jun 21, 2017)

Zoe probably had been clipped at least twice before I picked her up at 11 weeks of age. I need to change the profile photo to show how she looks now. I keep her in a Miami clip. I did her face, feet, and tail and scissored her topknot, tail, and bracelets this past week but I still need to run a #5 blade over her body.


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## AJC (Sep 6, 2021)

Pepper got his first haircut at 14 weeks. An easy puppy style.


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## Tulsi (Jun 8, 2021)

Rusty has just been clipped today. By me. He put up with it for a while but wasnt overjoyed. He is just over 6 months old.


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## 94Magna_Tom (Feb 23, 2021)

AJC said:


> Pepper got his first haircut at 14 weeks. An easy puppy style.
> View attachment 481115


Sooo cute! We had a thread about laying down with their legs like that! I forgot what we called it? Sploot?


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## Johanna (Jun 21, 2017)

I think it is very, very important to make a big deal about how nice they look after being groomed. Poodles do love to be admired, so pile on the compliments!


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## Oonapup (Oct 16, 2020)

Oona's first hair cut at 14 weeks is documented here: Oona's first visit to the groomer's! Before...
She had a similar cut to most of the other puppy cuts on here - FFT and the rest trimmed/evened but kept most of the puppy fluff. I clipped her down to an inch-ish myself around 23 weeks though. When her coat was starting to change it made less sense to keep the puppy floof.


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## DogtorDoctor (Mar 20, 2020)

Thank you, everyone, for weighing in! We ended up going with a 3/4 guard over the clippers and scissoring on the legs to match. I literally could not be more pleased with how it turned out!! My groomer took it slow and gave Jango breaks. She said he did very well for the drier, which was my biggest concern. The only thing to work on is his stamina, which will come with time. We'll be doing a four week bath and dry and eight week clip rotation, if everything goes to plan.

My little boy is growing up so fast. I cannot believe how much like a dog he looks now. But I absolutely love it. I am obsessed with how soft and clean he is!


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## Oonapup (Oct 16, 2020)

He looks awesome. Perfect choice, looks nice and cool for what remains of the warm weather.


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## Starla (Nov 5, 2020)

He looks so handsome and grown up! I would personally have her go a bit lower on the tail shave next time, but that’s personal preference.


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

He looks gorgeous! Good boy, Jango.


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## Mfmst (Jun 18, 2014)

Buck had experienced two baths and FTT’s before we got him from his breeder. That said, she was adamant that until he was full vaccinated, he shouldn’t go for an outside professional groom. I told his groomers to do what they could and stop if he was stressed. He came back with a refreshed clean face, and feet, but his black coat was so blown out that DH and PF’s Countryboy said he looked fat. The next groom I had them cut all the fluff off into a sport clip, and it’s been ever thus. No regrets, no more fat shaming and more comfortable in this hot climate😎


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## Asta's Mom (Aug 20, 2014)

What a great groom - would love to stick my nose into that topknot.


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## 94Magna_Tom (Feb 23, 2021)

Jango looks great! A fresh groom is stunning!


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## DogtorDoctor (Mar 20, 2020)

Asta's Mom said:


> What a great groom - would love to stick my nose into that topknot.


Oh, it is extremely satisfying. I also got to shove my nose into his puppy floof one last time in between being dried and starting the clip. My groomer told me to say my goodbyes while I had the chance. 😂


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## Jilly SummerSunset (Sep 16, 2020)

Maggie got a shorter puppy cut her first time (with girly




























bows), until Bubba pulls them out.


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