Your Goldendoodle needs regular grooming to keep himself clean and cuddly. After all, these adorable dogs love the outdoors and constantly play around, leaving plenty of dirt and mud on their coats and entire bodies every day!
Do you find it challenging to groom your Goldendoodle? Worry not, because we’ve got 7 easy steps to help you get started grooming your adorable doodle baby!
Step-by-Step Guide in Grooming Your Goldendoodle
It can feel a bit intimidating to groom your Goldendoodle on your own. But it’s indeed possible to go the DIY way!
Ready to groom your Goldendoodle? Follow these 7 steps:
1. Brush your Goldendoodle’s coat
The first step should be brushing your fur baby’s coat. There’re various types of brushes, choose the best brushes for your Goldendoodle to have effortless and pain-free grooming. You can use a slicker brush for regular brushing.
Start at the bottom, brush one line of hair away, and pull down a small portion as you go up. You should see the skin for every line of hair that you brush.
Continue brushing this way until you’ve combed the entirety of your Goldendoodle’s coat. Brush the armpits and tail as well – many tend to forget these areas.
Now, if you come across matting that can’t be removed by brushing, you can gently remove them using dog clippers or grooming scissors. Cutting small matted areas is recommended to prevent them from becoming bigger when left as is. After that, comb the de-matted area with a metal pin brush.
Daily brushing is best, but you can stick to three times a week for doodles with the typical wavy coats. Daily brushing is highly encouraged if your fur baby has ringlets or tight curls for his coat.
2. Shave certain trouble areas
The second step is shaving your Goldendoodle’s trouble areas. Completely remove the fur on the belly and genital areas. Also, trim the fur up to an inch below your dog’s ear canals. Also, you need to trim Goldendoodle’s face carefully.
You need to shave these areas because the hair on these parts can quickly get matted and tangled. This increases infection risk and skin problems. Shaving is needed even if you plan on letting your dog’s coat become long.
Meanwhile, trimming the hair below the ear canals helps improve airflow to your Goldendoodle’s ears.
3. Pluck the hair in the ears
Your third step in grooming your Goldendoodle is removing excess hairs on the ears.
Use your thumb and pointer finger to pluck excess hair from the inner ears, moving in a quick yet gentle manner. Pull only the hairs on the inner ear, as any other hairs plucked in large sections will be painful for your dog.
After plucking, place dry cotton balls in your dog’s ears. These should keep the ears dry while you bathe. Then, immediately remove the cotton balls after bathing.
Plucking your Goldendoodle’s inner ear hairs is done to prevent moisture and bacteria from growing inside the ears. Both will lead to ear infections if not prevented.
4. Bathe your Goldendoodle
The fourth step is bathing your fur baby! Prepare the following items:
- Dog shampoo and conditioner
- Towels
- Rinsing cup
- Metal flee comb
- Blow dryer for pets
To get your dog to cooperate seamlessly with you, it’s important to get him excited with bathing first. Tim as you complete the first three grooming steps we explained earlier. This will get him comfy and excited to take his bath.
Wash your doodle thoroughly and rinse with water. If possible, drain the water right away from the tub, then towel down your Goldendoodle. Towel-dry first the head, ears, and topcoat, and move on to the legs, belly, and tail.
Use a warm setting on the pet blow dryer and keep it 12-18 inches away from your dog to prevent burns. Run the dryer back and forth while fluffing and brushing the coat. Brush in the coat’s natural hair direction to prevent tangles.
5. Comb and trim after bathing
Re-comb your Goldendoodle’s fur after completely drying his coat. This fifth step prevents tangles from forming. You can also trim the coat as you brush using grooming scissors or a long comb paired with an electric dog clipper (1-inch attachment).
Start combing and trimming the head. Then, move down to the cheeks, neck, back, sides, chest, and belly. After that, comb and trim each of the legs in a downward motion. Then, comb and trim down near the feet and paws with curved grooming scissors.
Having long hair on your dog’s foot pads could make them quite dirty. Which will lead your Goldendoodle licking his paws. So always take special care of long hair on your dog’s foot pads.
6. Trim down the fur between the feet’s pads
The sixth step is grooming the fur in between the pads of the feet. This fur can quickly get overgrown and can cause problems if left untrimmed. Use curved grooming scissors and make sure the fur is level with the feet pads.
7. Clip your dog’s nails
The final step to grooming your Goldendoodle is to clip his nails. Quickly yet gently snip off the white clear nails. Be careful not to trim too close to the pink paw areas, as doing so would cause pain for your dog.
That’s it! You’ve successfully groomed your Goldendoodle! While it may seem intimidating at first, you and your fur baby will surely get the hang of it, especially if you started grooming him early on while he’s still a puppy.
