Puppy Care | Doodle Sweethearts

Puppy Care

Labradoodle Puppy Care

Labradoodle Grooming

Your Labradoodle puppy develops their adult coat and out of their puppy coat at about 6 to 8 months. Doodle coats will start to thicken and mat at that point and this is the time to start grooming.

When puppy coat is changing to their adult coat your puppy may lose a little hair and the coat may lighten or darken.
A change in curl or wavy will happen as the coat matures.

Here is a video with tips for grooming an adult Labradoodle yourself:
Grooming Tips for the Labradoodle

When your Doodle is about 14 months old they will have their adult coat and then body and legs can be shaved with clippers.
Most important is to know your groomer or have a groomer that is recommended.
Your groomer should be easy to talk with and be OK with you staying with your doodle and watching etc…
The best shampoos and conditioners are super important…Doodles have sensitive skin.
You don’t want to over shampoo your Doodle either... only bath when needed or one every 6-8 weeks or so (as often as you groom is a good reference point).
It is recommended to NEVER BLOW DRY Doodle coats, as it's not good for their skin.
It looks good on a doodle to leave their coat longer on head, face and tail.
It also looks good if the tail is full and top of head is full and ears are trimmed up. Don’t shave their face.
No shaving the face, ears, paws or tail
You can leave the leg hair a little longer (with poodles it is called leaving the pants on) or leave their paws and ankles with a bit longer coat.
It can be fun to give them a whole new look with a little different cut.
Buy wide tooth combs and open wire brush and the scissors with round tips...
For a summer groom cut down to a inch or two or what ever you want.
Its a fun change and your Labradoodle looks a lot different for a little while.
It is a good idea in hot summer to give them a full short body and legs cut.

Tip

If your labradoodle is extremely matted or dirty, schedule her for an appointment with a professional groomer.
Many mats lie very close to the skin, and you can injure your dog if you try and cut them away with scissors.

Warning

Don’t skip out on routine grooming.
It may seem repetitive, but frequent grooming is necessary for your labradoodle’s comfort and health.

How to Brush the Labradoodle Coat:

Labradoodles can have very thick coats, and daily brushing will cut down on mats.
Comb the dog's face and ears.
Brush the hair on the muzzle straight down over the chin to remove tangles. Loosen tangles in the ear hair with your fingers, and comb the hair flat with the slicker brush.

It is important to get your labradoodle puppy used to brushing at a very young age so they adapt to the grooming when they are older!

Cleaning your Labradoodle's Ears

Another big aspect of maintenance of a labradoodle is cleaning out their ears.
It is important because these are floppy eared dogs and because of the poodle, they do grow a lot of hair in their ears.
You NEED to pluck the hair out of their ears.
They will continue to grow lots of hair in their ears and eventually there will be no air movement and they will get ear infections.
Ear infections can cause a number of issues in dogs, but are easy to treat and keep on top of.
It is important to note that dogs do not have nerve endings in their ears, so you are able to pluck the hair out of their ears without hurting them.
You can just stick you fingers in their ears, grab a hold of the hairs and pull them out.
The puppy might whine a little, but it is more awkward than actually hurting them.
You can buy powder at any pet store that will help with gripping the ear hairs as well.
But, for harder to get hairs in the ears you can get hemostats.
They will easily hold the hair, so that you can pull it out.
Just be very careful with these as you only want to grab hair and not any soft tissue in the ear!
Majority of groomers will automatically pull all the hair out of your Labradoodles ears, but if they don't, always ask for this to be done.

Labradoodle Puppy Care

Labradoodle Grooming

​

Cleaning your Labradoodle's Ears

Another big aspect of maintenance of a labradoodle is cleaning out their ears.

It is important because these are floppy eared dogs and because of the poodle, they do grow a lot of hair in their ears.

You NEED to pluck the hair out of their ears.

They will continue to grow lots of hair in their ears and eventually there will be no air movement and they will get ear infections.

Ear infections can cause a number of issues in dogs, but are easy to treat and keep on top of.

It is important to note that dogs do not have nerve endings in their ears, so you are able to pluck the hair out of their ears without hurting them.

You can just stick you fingers in their ears, grab a hold of the hairs and pull them out.

The puppy might whine a little, but it is more awkward than actually hurting them.

You can buy powder at any pet store that will help with gripping the ear hairs as well.

But, for harder to get hairs in the ears you can get hemostats.

They will easily hold the hair, so that you can pull it out.

Just be very careful with these as you only want to grab hair and not any soft tissue in the ear!

Majority of groomers will automatically pull all the hair out of your Labradoodles ears, but if they don't, always ask for this to be done.

​

​