As the proud owner of a poodle, you know that the breed is intelligent – and that their coats present a major grooming challenge. If your Fido or Fifi has been bred for showing, no doubt you cart him or her to a professional groomer on a regular basis.
If you choose not to enlist the services of a pro, you will need to ensure that your poodle’s coat and nails receive the attention that they deserve. With a bit of time and effort, you can achieve this goal.
Professional groomers receive special training on how to handle the coats of various breeds of dogs. You only need to learn the peculiarities of one breed.
If you begin to clip away at your poodle’s coat without a plan or without instruction, poor Fido or Fifi will look like a reject from an 80’s video. No dog deserves that. Take it upon yourself to undergo training in the proper techniques to handle your dog’s unique coat.
Have you ever shaved your legs (women) or your face (men) with a dull razor? If so, you undoubtedly realized pretty quickly that a fresh, sharp blade was in order.
Well, Fido or Fifi won’t like being clipped with a dull clipper any more than you enjoy scraping a dull razor across your skin. Especially when you’re dealing with the dense, think fur of a poodle, using a clipper with a dull blade can be downright painful. Give Fido or Fifi a break and invest in a good set of clippers – and keep the blades clean and sharp.
Clippers are big and noisy, which can be scary to puppies that are not accustomed to dealing with them. Allow Fifi or Fido to get used to having the clippers around gradually. Begin just by holding up the clippers so that your poodle can see that the clippers aren’t some kind of monster.
Then turn the clippers on so that Fifi or Fido can become desensitized to the sound of the motor. After you’ve completed this process, Fido or Fifi should allow you to trim his or her fur without major protest.
Poodles have sensitive skin underneath their fur and around their ears and eyes. Take advantage of the opportunity while you’re trimming your dog’s fur to examine the skin on its body, along with checking its ears and eyes. Gently clear any discharge around the dog’s ears with a cotton ball moistened with special dog ear cleaner.
Wipe the fur around your dog’s eyes with a cotton ball that has been soaked in water. Cracking, dryness or other signs that something may be amiss should motivate you to place a call to the vet, and if necessary, bring Fido or Fifi in to have things checked out.
When you wash your hair, you are probably careful to rinse out all the residual shampoo or conditioner to prevent buildup that can dull your strands. You may even go the squeaky-clean route to ensure that no product is left behind.
You don’t have to employ that kind of extreme rinsing with Fido or Fifi, but proper rinsing is just as important after shampooing a poodle as it is for you. Poodles have thick, dense fur that can become matted, tangled and dull if you’re not careful about rinsing out all the soap or shampoo.
Even if you leave the bulk of your poodle’s grooming to a pro, brushing its fur on a daily basis is an absolute must. As mentioned above, the thick, dense fur of poodles can become matted and tangled without proper care. This is because when poodles shed, they don’t deposit fur on your furniture or clothes. Instead, the fur becomes trapped in the dog’s undercoat.
A gentle brushing each day will largely eliminate this problem. Spritzing a bit of water on each section before brushing will eliminate static and prevent breakage.
Many poodle owners leave the task of clipping the dog’s nails to the pros. If you opt to take on the chore yourself, be very careful not to cut into the quick of the nails. Doing so will cause bleeding and pain, and Fido or Fifi will understandably be skittish the next time that you – or a professional groomer – attempts to clip his or her nails.