Puppies are adorable, especially Poodle puppies, but there are all sorts of difficulties that come with them. From training to grooming, to sleeping, they can be a handful. One thing you can worry less about with Poodle puppies is shedding.
Poodles have hair instead of fur and the majority of shedding is caught in their curls. There will be a low amount of shedding of whatever isn't trapped in the coat. Poodle puppies will shed more as their adult coat comes in, beginning between 6 months and a year old.
Read on for more information about Poodle puppy coats, Poodle grooming, and tips for cleaning up shedding.
Poodle Coats
Poodle coats are different than the coats of most other breeds, they have hair that is more similar to that of humans than fur. Their hair follicles have a longer active growth period than is typical of traditional fur follicles, meaning each individual strand is going to be long before it stops growing and sheds.
Additionally, Poodles have curly coats. The combination of curly and long hair means that shedding hair gets caught in the coat the majority of the time rather than falling off the dog entirely. So, Poodles lose hair just like any other dog, but the amount of shedding is much lower.
Puppy Coat vs Adult Coat
When it comes to your puppy, shedding is based on how old they are and how much of their adult coat has grown in.
The puppy coat is soft, fluffy, and fine, meant to help puppies regulate their body temperatures. The adult coat will be thicker and coarser. Poodle puppies can have straight or curly hair, but adult Poodles will typically have curly hair.
Adult coats can start growing as early as 6 months old and as late as 1 year old, and the transition can last until around 2 years old. It can often start with tighter curls near the roots or tighter curls at the ends. When it begins, their coats can mat very easily: once one mat gets brushed out, another just-brushed area can already have a mat-forming.
Grooming
Poodles need good, regular grooming in order to stay neat and clean.
Brushing: Brush their hair regularly, as the trapped hair can easily cause mats, using a slicker brush with short, stiff wire bristles. Brush all the way down to their skin, but be careful not to scratch or scrape them.
Bathing: Since Poodle hair is actively growing like human hair, human shampoos can work for Poodles as well, but dog shampoos will also work. Wash them as often as you'd like, with an average of at least one wash every four weeks, or whenever they get into something smelly or dirty.
Trimming: Trim hair as often as you bathe your Poodle, every four to eight weeks. Haircuts for Poodles depend on a few different things: type of Poodle, age, and if they're a show dog or not.
Puppy: The Puppy Clip is the simple haircut given to Poodles that are under or around 1 year old.
- Decide how short you want their coat to be. Typically, this won't be shaved close to the skin or left long and puffy, but somewhere in between.
- Trim the face, body, and legs. Starting at the face, be careful and clip towards the ears.
- At the feet, make sure to cut excess hair between the foot pads and keep the area short, as mats are very common there.
- Trim the tail as long or short as you'd like.
Standard Poodle: For the Standard Poodle, the most widely known look is the Continental Clip, with fluffy, puffy rounds on the dog's ankles, tail, and head.
- On the back, sides, and legs, shave your dog very short.
- Create a rounded cuff on each ankle and the and of the tail. First, make sure the leg and base of the tail are shaved to match the length of the rest of the body, then use curve shears to trim the cuffs to the length and shape you want.
- For the head, carefully shave the face to match the length of the body, then trim, again with curved shears, the topknot, ears, neck, and shoulders to achieve the rounded look you want.
Additionally, in show dogs, rosettes are left on the hips.
Miniature and Toy Poodles: A popular look for Miniature and Toy Poodles is the teddy bear clip, where the trim, especially around the ears, makes the poodle look like a cute little teddy bear.
- Choose what length you want your Poodle's hair to be all over, then cut with a dog trimmer and a blade guard everywhere except their face and feet.
- Use curved shears to trim the long hair away from your dog's eyes. Be very careful. The curved shears can also be used to round the cut around their face so it fades well into the rest of the clip.
- Trim the excess hair from your dog's feet. Be careful around their foot pads, as they're sensitive, and be sure to cut their hair short, as the foot area is particularly prone to matting.
Nails: Your Poodle's nails are too long when they click against hardwood floors. They can be cut, shortened down with a grinder, or cut and then shortened. Just make sure to regularly cut them so they stay healthy and aren't a nuisance.
Teeth: Brush your Poodle's teeth regularly to maintain proper dental hygiene. Giving them something hard to chew on will also help with dental maintenance. If there's tartar build-up, use a tooth-scaler to scrape it off.
Ears: Regularly pluck or trim the insides of their ears, as well. Their ears are dropped and prone to wax build-up, so regular cleaning can help the inside of the ear stay dry and keep the ear canal healthy.
Shedding Clean Up
Poodles shed much less than other breeds, so there will already be less clean-up to do. However, no dog is completely shed-proof.
Regular grooming will already take care of a lot of extra shedding your Poodle will do throughout your house. Brushing, bathing, and trimming remove loose, trapped hairs from their coat. Additionally, shedding tools are good to brush out tufts and mats your Poodle might develop if regular grooming isn't enough.
As for the shedding that will accumulate around your house:
- Use furniture covers: Plastic or fabric covers for couches, tables, chairs, and everything in between can help keep dog hair off the furniture and are much easier to clean than the furniture itself. If you know your Poodle is going to be snuggling on your couch or bed with you, put down a cover or washable blanket beforehand to catch any shedding.
- Sweep, vacuum, dust: These might seem like obvious solutions, but just like any other detritus that builds up in a house, dog hair is easily removed from carpets, floors, and hard surfaces.
- Lint rollers or duct tape: Again, another obvious choice, but lint rollers can pull dog hair off your clothes and linens, so why not off of upholstery or other fabric-covered items in your house? If lint rollers aren't doing the trick, duct tape is a heavy-duty option.
Cindy is a prolific writer and online researcher who can't imagine life without dogs. There is scarcely a dog topic she has not researched or written about. Her love for dogs and helping dog parents is evident by the thousands of dogtemperament.com visitors who read her articles monthly. Most of all, each topic Cindy writes on helps forge a stronger bond and understanding between her and her happy Catahoula Leopard Dog Jossie.