# Cords!



## spindledreams (Aug 7, 2012)

I had my girl Twilight started in cords a couple of years ago, then she went into heat. Sigh Monster chewed her coat up and we ended up shaving her all the way down. And of course I had to start growing her out again. She is finally after a year ready to start shaping her cords again  So I am reading and reading and sigh gave up and asked for help in a general show dog group. I get to meet with an experienced person who will help me with the how thick is too thick and how thin is too thin. I will also ask him why one side is cording and the other side of her body is not... 

I figured I would start a thread for our adventure... This was my girl in October 2016 and after her total shave down. As you can see she really was short.


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## galofpink (Mar 14, 2017)

Looking forward to watching your journey with cording, best of luck!


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

I look forward to reading about your experience cording too. I look at photos of corded poodles and think they look amazing- but I know it's a lot of work to maintain.


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

I love the corded look - will be following along as you progress.


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## S_Toast (Jan 30, 2018)

I've always loved corded breeds. Komondor, Puli, Poodle... 

I'm sure I'll end up cording part or all of Coquette at some point. The groomer in me knows it's going to happen along with a lot of other interesting haircuts. Looking forward to following your cording journey.


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## MollyMuiMa (Oct 13, 2012)

Oh yes I'll be watching too! I've always been curious about how cording is started and then maintained....this will be a thread read by many!!!!


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## spindledreams (Aug 7, 2012)

*Stage 1*

Starting cording is simple you stop brushing, mist the coat if you want as often as every day. Bathe as needed, some will do this weekly just like a show coat. DO NOT use a high velocity dryer on them. Towel dry them after the bath and set up in a crate lined with dry towels. Swap the towels out as they get soaked. YOU WILL NEED A LOT OF TOWELS. At this stage the dog will dry fairly quickly but I still plan on bathing one day and grooming the next day. A long show coat is actually not a great idea in this stage. You want some length as it gives the mats a place to form but too much coat could interfere with your ability to feel the matting and plates as they are forming. (Twilight actually did nothing but grow out from Feb to June when her first curls were forming)

At this stage you are going to be petting your dog, feeling the coat looking for matts. The coat that is going to cord beautifully for you is going to start to form ringlets and plates of matted hair. The plates are thin and you can see the skin between them. Plus there should be a narrow line of unmatted hair at their base. At this point you need to really start watching them. The base of the plates and ringlets are going to start looking and feeling like felt. NOW is when you get to work. Each felt feeling ringlet or plate needs to be looked over carefully. If there are more than one curl at the end of the felted section you are going to carefully pull these proto cords apart. The goal now is one curly tip per felted section. Don't worry if they look too thin or too fat at this point. We are just starting to lay the foundation and get a feel for the coat and the process. REMEMBER don't pull them apart until they get that felt feel/look unless it is a true next to the skin matt. Those need to be tended to. You can cut them into strips or remove them as you would normally. A cord is not a matt. There will always be a bit of uncorded hair at the base of the cord. 

In Twilights case our first attempt ended up damaged by another of our dogs. She was shaved in Feb, then in May I brushed her out so she could compete in a UKC show. So we had to wait until June to see her curls really forming... At this point we were simply waiting for coat growth and felting to happen.


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## Tiesthatbynde (Mar 5, 2018)

I LOVE the look of a corded poodle! I’ve never seen one in person but the pics are beautiful. As a groomer the process has fascinated me. 

Looking forward to following along on this journey


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## LizzysMom (Sep 27, 2016)

Add me to those who will be eagerly following this thread!


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## spindledreams (Aug 7, 2012)

While working on Twilight's coat yesterday I stopped to snap a couple of photos. She has some true cords formed but a lot of her body coat is still in the process of forming cords. 
She is forming thin plates of webbed hair, the base is untangled/not matted, and the plates are distinct from one another. As you can see the skin is visible between these thin sheets of webbing. 







[/url]skin clearly visible between the plates by spindledreams, on Flickr[/IMG]

She also has some areas that are much more advanced. In these areas you can see where the cords will be as they are starting to felt but are still mostly fuzzy. This is still a bit too early to separate into individual cords as the fuzz will bind them back together. What I am doing at this stage is to ensure that each "plate" is totally separate from the others so the air can get to her skin. I do this mostly by finger combing her coat, and pulling the fuzz that is trying to wander so it doesn't get attached to the wrong section of hair. This is what it looks like in those areas. 







[/url]plates not felted enough to seperate by spindledreams, on Flickr[/IMG]

And just looking at her the texture looks like this







[/url]texture by spindledreams, on Flickr[/IMG]

This is what she is looking like now. The rosettes are oversized and will be trimmed to size and shape once they have corded. Blush I got her bracelets too low I found out when I had a breeder friend critique my clip. Now I have to wait for them to grow out at the tops. The extra length at the top is important as the cords hang straight down making the bracelets look shorter than they really are.







[/url]twilight 02-03-18 by spindledreams, on Flickr[/IMG]


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## spindledreams (Aug 7, 2012)

*A second dog??*

I love how Twilight is looking so I decided to cord my younger dog Cole also. 
He is not far along but has some matting/cording on his neck, tail, and bracelets. The majority of his mane and his topknot are still totally uncorded. His dad "fixed" his clip this weekend totally ruining the almost right clip I had on him. So off came the now too small and misshapen rosettes. Today he got a bath and tomorrow I will figure out what I can do with the rest of the mess I got left with. Biggest problem sigh he was entered in a UKC show this weekend... 

So here is how he looked yesterday before I took those rosettes off. Notice how messy his coat looks. 







[/url]fixed a by spindledreams, on Flickr77[/IMG]

And this is how he looked while still wet from the bath. Notice the small ringlets over his shoulders?
ringlets cropped by spindledreams, on Flickr


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## spindledreams (Aug 7, 2012)

*Comparison*

Twilight has now been in the process of cording for almost a year. Her back and neck are mostly corded but her sides, rosettes, bracelets, tail and topknot are not. As you can see she is really starting to look like a corded dog. Grin yes I know she needs a shave but I took advantage of our good weather to get shots... 







[/url]twilight 5-9-2018 3-10-008 by spindledreams, on Flickr[/IMG]

And you can see in this lovely head shot that her ears and topknot still have a long way to go. 







[/url]twilight face 5-9-2018 3-11-14 PM by spindledreams, on Flickr[/IMG]

So far our routine is petting which includes feeling for clumps of cords, gently separating any that are growing together, bath every couple of weeks, cage dry with towels. 

Cole is a totally different story. We are only about 6 month in. His coat is nowhere near as nice as hers was to cord. His undercoat is fuzzy and his outer coat is still pretty soft. Instead of lovely ringlets and flat plates he tends to form large clumps of stuck together hair. I am using a seam ripper to separate these into cord size sections, then keeping them separated as they felt. He is also tending to clump/cord all over with me having to keep on top of clumps on his legs, tail, belly and sides as well as his shoulders and neck. That topknot sigh is about the only spot I have not found one. 

As you can see he is at that fugly unkempt stage yes this is after a bath! 







[/url]cole 5-9-2018 3-50-12 PM by spindledreams, on Flickr[/IMG]

And just to see how they compare next to each other and because I love the photo.







[/url]Twilight n cole 5-9-2018 3-11-18 PM by spindledreams, on Flickr[/IMG]


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## spindledreams (Aug 7, 2012)

*time for a show?*

Not really ready for prime time but a small UKC show was good. And my friend was there to tidy them up for me and get them ready to show. You will see that Twilight got some of her cords cut very short. It was interesting to watch my friend. She had her sit on the table then when the cords were draped down she trimmed them across giving us a nice appearance of layers... 
Twilight needs her legs and rumps shaved which will make her look so much better but I have to wait for a new blade... 







[/url]twilight 5-16-2018 2-28-32 PM by spindledreams, on Flickr[/IMG]


Cole is so early in his cording that his coat is a mess of cords, almost cords, ringlets and fluff. But my friend was able to actually make him look very nice. 







[/url]Cole 5-16-2018 2-30-34 PM by spindledreams, on Flickr[/IMG]


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## Dechi (Aug 22, 2015)

I think both dogs look very nice !

I’ve always wondered about corded dogs : are they more hot because of all the hair, and does the weight of the hair become tiresome after a while ?


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

They look magnificent, regal with their cords.


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## spindledreams (Aug 7, 2012)

They are surprisingly cool from what I have heard, we have not reached summer yet so our temps are still below 75 most days... 
You have to remember each cord is independent of the other cords. There is open skin around each cord base and the hair closest to the skin is not matted so they move freely. That means the cords are free to move and of course move air around.


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## spindledreams (Aug 7, 2012)

*Sept 5, 2018*

I haven't updated this in a while but I recently got some new photos of the dogs to show off. I am still getting those front bracelets too low according to some folks but this time I got the back bracelets too high so I need to figure out how to get a happy medium. 

Twilight is really starting to look like a corded poodle 







[/url]2nd Twilight 9-3-2018 by spindledreams, on Flickr[/IMG]

Cole is still a mess. There is a lot of matting under that coat but the end of the jacket is still unmatted. His neck and chest and belly have proper cords on them but I don't have a good photo of them yet. Also my DH snipped off his front leg cords "because they were looking scraggly" so those have to regrow... 
Cole 9-3-2018 by spindledreams, on Flickr Cole 9-3-2018 front vies by spindledreams, on Flickr


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## spindledreams (Aug 7, 2012)

*Progress 9 November 2018*

The end of October we traveled to St Louis for a large UKC dog show. We had made arrangements for my friend to do a full groom on Twilight to get her ready for the shows. While she was working on her we took lots of photos and some video and asked questions which she answered so we would know how to keep the groom up until the next time we see her. 
We also got her opinion on Coles mess of a coat... and I learned a new term "armadillo matting" which is what he is doing. The "matt" feels thick and solid but it is not totally firm and it can be moved around as there is a section of unmatted hair between the firmer stuff and his skin. I have been working it by looking for the impression of a cord and just gently cutting it out of the mass. AND apparently this is what you do with this type of coat. So now his "matt" is only about 1/4 of very top of his back with a large fuzzy section at the back of the mane where it has been brushed out in the past.


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## spindledreams (Aug 7, 2012)

oops I forgot the photos
Coles whole body (he was looking at something outside the window)


Closer look at that coat as it is now

coat 2 by spindledreams, on Flickr coat by spindledreams, on Flickr


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## spindledreams (Aug 7, 2012)

And of course the show photo of Twilight as she appeared at Gateway October 26,2018
CROPPED TWILIGHT fixed by spindledreams, on Flickr


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## JenandSage (Mar 9, 2018)

It looks great Twilight is very nice!


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## spindledreams (Aug 7, 2012)

OOPS! I have forgotten to update this thread as the dogs coats have developed. This was Cole in Feb 2019. Notice how thick those back cords are that I got seperated out from the huge matt on his back...


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## spindledreams (Aug 7, 2012)

By April of 2019 he was starting to really look like a corded dog...


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## spindledreams (Aug 7, 2012)

And in November I would have to say he is almost ready for prime time. He still has an ear we are working on seperating into cords. From about midway down his ear hair turned into a solid matt that we are tackling by gently seperating into layers then seperating each layer into cord size sections. Twilight has always been an easy dog to cord, she formed lovely ringlets that then matted up to form cords. Cole as you have read was a totally different matter but LOOK AT THIS BEAUTY!


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

Cole looks amazing now and I’m surprised how long it takes to get the cords how you want them. 

How long does it take to dry after a bath?


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## spindledreams (Aug 7, 2012)

Skylar said:


> How long does it take to dry after a bath?


Cole has very thick heavy cords compared to Twilight she dries in about 23 hours but Cole took a full 2 days to competly dry after his last bath.


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## Newport (Jul 16, 2014)

Wow, two days to dry! Cords are definitely a work of the heart. Thank you for sharing these photos, I otherwise would probably never see a corded poodle. Very pretty!


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