# Cording a Toy Poodle-Update



## poodlecrazy#1 (Jul 2, 2013)

So we started this process about maybe 6 months ago. I'll have to say I have learned a lot! The biggest thing being that any poodle can be corded! If you want to cord your poodle but are worried that their fur is to soft or to straight, or just isn't the right texture don't worry, it can be done! It will definitely take more effort on your part but if it mats it will cord! 

With Winter his fur is baby soft like silkiness and does have a bit of a curl but it is a loose curl. I found that when starting his cords back combing was my best friend! His TK would have never corded if I didn't encourage it. I sectioned it and then back combed the individual pieces. Then I would spray it with water scrunch it up and let it dry. I did this everyday for a week. This was the results. 

Very first time back combing before wetting 







After a week of back combing and wetting 








I was super happy with the results but still wanted uniform cords that fell and actually looked like cords. I did some research and found a post here on PF about how one person needle felted some cords and then felted them into her poodles TK. So I used that and took it in a different direction. I bought a needle felting kit and used the needle to felt his own fur. It worked a bit but I found that his fur just did not have enough texture (or I'm guessing each individual strand didn't have good hooks to grab each other) so I bought 100% white wool and used that to shape his cords up a bit. I wrapped each one in the thinnest amount of wool and used those fibers to add some texture to his own fur. This worked great he had wonderful shaped cords for his TK! 








With the hardest part finished I let everything else work naturally. I would split his mats at this point every single night. Eventually what looked like a mess, turned into the resemblance of cords. With a lot of patience and hard work his cords took shape and he didn't look as unkempt. People actually recognize him as a poodle with dreadlocks instead of a poodle with a mom that doesn't take care of him ?. I have to say though in the time where he looked very bad I got some pretty nasty looks! Especially from fellow groomers and pet lovers. 

At a point in the cording process I did loose some faith. It was right before Christmas time and he just didn't look how I wanted him to. The cords were misshapen and just ugly looking. I saw pictures of him right before the process and missed my sweet little cute fluffy white poodle! I held on though, I would tell myself if you feel the same way after the new year then shave it off. Well after the new year he started looking a bit better and I just kept it going. I think the biggest hindrance was the lack of support from my friends family and coworkers. They all would say he looked ugly and that I should shave him. I tried to explain to them the ugly stage and show them pictures after that stage but they just never understood. I only had two people that actually liked it and told me to keep going. If it weren't for them I probably would have shaved him down in December. 

So my point is, if you want to cord your poodle stick too it! Don't let other people get in your way. Don't care if they tell you your dog is ugly or that you are torturing it by doing this. Educate them in the history of the corded poodle and the process. Tell them how much hard work it takes to maintain it. Maybe then they will have a little respect. If not at least they will be a little more educated in poodles and the different styles. The dog does not experience any pain while in a corded coat. Winters cords start 1/4 in away from his skin! I could easily get a #4 blade under them. 

This entire process has been an experiment. So far the results have been good, but it isn't over. I do have a few concerns. One is that his cords are so small to be in balance with his size that I worried they will never have the weight to fall over and they will always be kind of sticking out. I guess only time will tell on that one. Another worry is that his pompoms will never turn out quite right. So far the have been the most challenging next to the TK. Even more so since I am letting them go naturally and only splitting them. They are the only things I have had to use shears on to split. They just form a solid mat especially on the areas he lays or sits on. Again only time will tell on these, worse comes to worse I will treat them like I did the TK and use the wool to get a uniform shape. 

Some pictures and videos. 


Before the cording process





































http://youtu.be/qJHRkUAIXcI

http://youtu.be/fJOIYy_qZGM


If anyone has questions on the process or is wanting to cord their poodle (especially a toy or mini) feel free to ask me. 

I wish there had been someone I could talk to or ask my questions but unfortunately there is no info out there on cording a toy poodle. I have seen one very fuzzy picture of a corded toy that's it! I didn't mind experimenting though. Trial and error is the best way to learn! Thankfully we haven run into any errors yet ?. I depended a lot on the little info about cording standards and the best info I found was on other breeds. Like the Spanish water dog, Komondor and puli.

Oh and I want to add that shaving the inside of the ears is an absolute must! I didn't want to because I was unsure about how it would look, but his ear leather would split with out me even touching him! Once I shaved the inside of the ear (and I mean all the way to the tip!) the splitting immediately stopped and his ears started to heal. 

And one other thing to mention is that using a drying shampoo with out any added things like silicone will help a lot. I do not have one and I notice that he does get pretty fluffy after a bath. Of course only air drying and never never brush! I have been thinking about using an apple cider vinegar mixture to help with drying. I don't have to worry about mold or mildew but it also helps with that.


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## Mehpenn (Jan 18, 2010)

He's so cute! 
That looks like a tremendous amount of work!


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Thanks for that. It looks like a lot of work and I have a hard time imagining I would have the patience to gt through the awkward looking stages since we are sort of always just a few weeks away from a trial where I want Lily to look great (not like a project in progress).


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## MollyMuiMa (Oct 13, 2012)

I don't think I could last thru the 'ugly stage'! LOL! You must have the 'patience of a saint' as the saying goes! I can't stand it when Molly looks messy, I'm too much of a neatnic! But I love to see corded dogs that are 'finished'! Good luck on getting there!


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## Shamrockmommy (Aug 16, 2013)

He is going to look amazing! Its on my "bucket list" of hairdos to try on Jack, but I'm not sure I could make it past the ugly stage. 

Please keep us updated


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## Tiny Poodles (Jun 20, 2013)

He looks great, but I have a question - don't you worry about his skin? I know that you go through hell with Kila's skin, but as I am sure you know, healthy poodles are prone to cysts, and other skin conditions to. I know that whenever I have run into a skin condition with any of my poodles, the less hair, and the more frequent baths the better, so I would be worried about what could be brewing under the parts I couldn't see with the cords and not being able to bath that often....


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## poodlecrazy#1 (Jul 2, 2013)

Thank you everyone. I think he looks pretty good too. He still has a bit more progress to make though. And YES! your are all correct it is a lot of work, but not as much work as restraining myself to not do anything to him. That like you all said is the hardest part! Especially getting past the ugly stage. I also have to say that I don't think it would be as much work on a poodle with a better coat. With them you just let nature take it's corse. Some will even have a natural cording grid without coaxing. Also once you get past that initial ugly stage like in the first video and get to the more separated cords in the second video it's not as much work. I haven't sat down and split all his cords for like a week and there really is no difference. You can just see some of the cords bunching together in areas. 

Tinypoodles, the only thing I worry about with his skin is sun damage. I think his skin is much more exposed with the cords due to areas parting than when he was fluffy. I know white poodles/dogs are very prone to skin cancer and that worries me. So when he goes outside for long periods of time I usually put a jacket or sweater or shirt on him. As for not seeing the skin, I can see and feel every inch of skin on his body. The only time place I can't (or couldn't) is when his legs were a solid mat. I ended that by splitting the giant felted mat into sectioned cords with shears. Now I can see and feel all his skin anywhere on his body. The cords don't actually start until about 1/4 inch away from the skin. This is what allows me to see and feel all his skin. 
Bathing does not affect the cording process negatively either, as long as it's done right. It actually helps it! When the cord or coat gets wet and then starts to dry it tightens and shrinks the hair causing the mat or cord to tighten around itself. It's when you add things like silicone and conditioners that relax the hair follicle or make them slick that you run the risk of effecting the cording process negatively with baths. Think about felt or the felting process. It's the exact same thing.

(Which FYI for everyone, studying and researching felting and the science behind it is where my cording research started) 

If you have a raw fiber like wool, you add warm water,drying soap (like Dawn), and friction. Eventually those fibers will start to interlock with each other and felt. This is why if you have a 100% wool scarf or something similar like alpaca wool it is most likely dry clean only or delicate cycle only because putting it in the washing machine would with hot water and lots of tumbling would felt it. 

Also one thing I would like to point out that I realized many people might not know is that cords aren't (or shouldn't be) one solid mat. A properly formed cord is actually hallow in a sense. It is matted dead fur/hair on the outside and the core is healthy living hair that continues to grow. There is a wonderful drawing somewhere, that shows exactly what I am talking about. I will try to find it. When you study the anatomy if the cord you can definitely see this.


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## Tiny Poodles (Jun 20, 2013)

poodlecrazy#1 said:


> Thank you everyone. I think he looks pretty good too. He still has a bit more progress to make though. And YES! your are all correct it is a lot of work, but not as much work as restraining myself to not do anything to him. That like you all said is the hardest part! Especially getting past the ugly stage. I also have to say that I don't think it would be as much work on a poodle with a better coat. With them you just let nature take it's corse. Some will even have a natural cording grid without coaxing. Also once you get past that initial ugly stage like in the first video and get to the more separated cords in the second video it's not as much work. I haven't sat down and split all his cords for like a week and there really is no difference. You can just see some of the cords bunching together in areas.
> 
> Tinypoodles, the only thing I worry about with his skin is sun damage. I think his skin is much more exposed with the cords due to areas parting than when he was fluffy. I know white poodles/dogs are very prone to skin cancer and that worries me. So when he goes outside for long periods of time I usually put a jacket or sweater or shirt on him. As for not seeing the skin, I can see and feel every inch of skin on his body. The only time place I can't (or couldn't) is when his legs were a solid mat. I ended that by splitting the giant felted mat into sectioned cords with shears. Now I can see and feel all his skin anywhere on his body. The cords don't actually start until about 1/4 inch away from the skin. This is what allows me to see and feel all his skin.
> Bathing does not affect the cording process negatively either, as long as it's done right. It actually helps it! When the cord or coat gets wet and then starts to dry it tightens and shrinks the hair causing the mat or cord to tighten around itself. It's when you add things like silicone and conditioners that relax the hair follicle or make them slick that you run the risk of effecting the cording process negatively with baths. Think about felt or the felting process. It's the exact same thing.
> ...



Thank you, that was very informative! I did not realize that the cords don't go all the way to the skin.


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## spindledreams (Aug 7, 2012)

The one group on Facebook has a couple of corded toys in it. I enjoy seeing the photos and reading their hints there. https://www.facebook.com/groups/Cordedpoodles/


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## Littlelisette (Mar 12, 2014)

Wow amazing! I started cording Lisette in November and she does not look nearly so good! Her TK especially looks terrible.

How do you keep him clean? Lisette is also white and I am constantly finding little bits of dust and debris in the cords.


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## poodlecrazy#1 (Jul 2, 2013)

Littlelisette said:


> Wow amazing! I started cording Lisette in November and she does not look nearly so good! Her TK especially looks terrible.
> 
> 
> 
> How do you keep him clean? Lisette is also white and I am constantly finding little bits of dust and debris in the cords.



Yes it does take time, patience, and a lot of work to get past the ugly stage of cording. But stick to it Im sure she will start looking great soon. Bathing often really helped with Winter. Or not even bathing but getting wet and air drying. I usually bath him every week and that keeps him pretty clean. Of course I use a whiting shampoo and it seems to work just as well on cords than it does on a regular coat. I find little bits of debris in his cords here and there. I usually just pick them out with my fingers or tweezers if they are being difficult. His TK was extremely long when I started and that helped things a bit. But I knew it would never cord on its own so I helped it by back combing it then wetting it and letting it dry. After I got decent pre cord sections I felted it with a felting needle and a tiny bit of wool to help add texture. That gave me the nice uniform cords on his TK.


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## Littlelisette (Mar 12, 2014)

How does the felting work? I have no experience, so I can't imagine it.

Also, are you cording the whole body?


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## poodlecrazy#1 (Jul 2, 2013)

Basically it is just a special needle you get from craft stores and a foam pad. If you look up needle felting videos on YouTube you will get the idea. With him I took every precaution to keep him from getting stuck by the needle. I would use the pad on the thickest part and then put my hand or fingers behind it, so if the needle were to go through I would stick myself instead of him. I didn't get stuck near as many times felting his cords than I did my little poodle figurine, lol. I guess I was being extra careful when it was him. Yes I am cording his entire body in a Continental Cut. The only place I had to felt by hand was his TK though, everything else is all natural.


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## PoodlenPrada (Aug 13, 2014)

*Best Time to Start Cording*

Hi poodlecrazy

I was so happy to find this thread in the search. I intend to eventually keep my little toy boy corded. It won't be for some time, so I'm taking the opportunity now to learn all about the process. 

My little boy isn't even home yet (2 more weeks to go), but will still be in his fluffy puppy coat when he arrives; he'll be 12 weeks old then. Can I start the process with his puppy coat by just not brushing or clipping him, or do I need to wait for his adult coat to grow in? I ask because I've read conflicting info on various sites; some say you need to wait for the adult coat to grow in while another says you can start on a puppy coat? What are your thoughts/experience? 

Thank you in advance for any advice you may have


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## poodlecrazy#1 (Jul 2, 2013)

Glad you found my thread. I was hoping it would do as it has, help other people cord there poodle. Personally I think it would be better to wait to cord your pup until coat change. You will get to enjoy the nice fluffy puppy coat first. And coat change will help you tremendously when starting to cord. It makes the beginning process go so much faster. I waited for Winter's coat to change and I had him corded and looking good in 6 months.


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