# Shaving and grooming young puppies



## Lizspit (Mar 6, 2014)

I saw this commented on in a thread 3 years old, in fact it's how I found the forum. But I still have a lot of questions! 

In school we were told that under NO CIRCUMSTANCE were we to shave a poodle puppy (other than face, feet, base of tail, and sanitary) if it was under 1 yo. That it would ruin the adult coat. From what I read in the old thread, this is untrue? Mostly people were referring to trimming a pup. What about a short shave? so, theoretically, if I shaved my 3mo with a 7 his fur would not be effected when it grew back at all? (Just theoretically. I want him in a full coat for a while still!) 

Is the same true for phantoms? I was told by another poodle friend who went to the same school that when you shave a phantom poodle's face and feet as a puppy the phantom coloration becomes spotted with black (or whatever the body color is). Is this an old wives tale as well? She said she had witnessed it. I've seen the dog she was talking about, he does have black speckles on his knuckles. Is this from the shaving, or just coincidence? 

Spike has clean face and feet, and I don't intend on doing anything else to him, other than a light trim here or there really. I do want to give him German ears when he gets older, I've been afraid to do it now because of 'ruining his coat'. 

Mostly, I'd like to know so that I'm not misinforming my clients. 

I know a lot of people go to the line 'it's fur , it'll grow back' , but I can't help thinking about some of the border collies, pomeranians, golden retrievers, and cavaliers we shave who's coats grow back gross. I know poodles have a different hair type than these dogs though. 

Also, anyone have any good suggestions or pictures of a cute simple cut to put a young dog in? He doesn't *need* it, I just am chomping at the bit to do some grooming on him. Where I live in Maine almost EVERY SINGLE poodle that comes in gets shaved down with a 7. Not a lot of advanced techniques being polished , I'm afraid .


----------



## Carrie-e (Oct 23, 2012)

I have always owned poodles and have never heard that you can't shave them until a year old. Their puppy hair goes into adult hair from around 9 months old,but because their hair continuously grows if you don't cut their hair for a whole year,imagine how long it would get,and very hard to keep knot free especially during coat change.
There are a lot of groomers on this forum so hopefully they will give you some more replies as they know more about it than me!
For a pet poodle the lamb trim is a lovely neat smart haircut,shaved face,feet and tail,shortish back and lovely leg trousers.


----------



## DreamAgility (Sep 2, 2013)

It does not effect the poodes coat. The poodles coat will be the same color and texture as it would be if you didn't shave it. There is a member on her that breeds phantom spoos and recently was posting pictures of her puppies. She had all their faces shaved at a young age.
The one thing I regret is shaving my poodle puppy, though. I wish I had grown her hair and experimented with it. You have more to work with when your ready to shave them down as a 1 year old. I shaved my spoo into a german clip on her first birthday, and really, most puppys really dont look good in anything except for a puppy clip until a year old anyway. When they are a puppy is when their hair is easy to care for. After a year old, the hair is a pain in the butt because of coat change.


----------

