If you’re the proud owner of a Goldendoodle, you’re probably aware that their fluffy coats require some TLC to keep them looking tip-top. If you’re unsure of how often to groom your loving best friend, don’t worry, barksinthepark is here to help!
In this article, we’ll look at everything you need to know about keeping your furry friend well-groomed with a coat to match its shining personality. Goldendoodles have lovable natures and most have hypoallergenic fur. They’re firm favorites of many pet owners!
Maintaining Goldendoodles’ coats can be intimidating at times, though, so you might be feeling a touch overwhelmed. It is essential to keep your Doodle’s coat healthy and free from matting, which could cause discomfort and even infections. So let’s dive into the world of Goldendoodle grooming!
Table of Contents
How Often Should You Groom Your Goldendoodle?
While it’s true that, depending on the type of Doodle, Goldendoodles can shed all year round, most of the shedding happens twice during the year. So with regular grooming, you can cut down the dog hair creating havoc in your home.
How often do Goldendoodles need to be groomed? Frequent brushing, like every day, is ideal to keep their coats in top shape, but this isn’t always possible. Try though! You should also try to bathe them every few weeks for ultimate cleanliness and freshness.
If your doggo spends time running on concrete surfaces, pavement, or roads, the need for regular nail trimming might not be necessary. If not, give those nails a good trim on a monthly basis unless you see it’s not needed as often.
Going back to their coats, Doodles can do with a decent level of upkeep, so a good trim every six to eight weeks wouldn’t go amiss. You’ll maintain their healthy coat that way. Let’s look at the different grooming needs of Goldendoodles and when and how to go about them:
Goldendoodle grooming: what to do and when to do it
Here’s a breakdown of the grooming needs of Doodles, and how often you should carry them out. Of course, you can adjust this to suit your buddy’s specific lifestyle and requirements. As a guideline, this schedule will work pretty well for most Goldendoodle puppies and adults.
- Brushing: Try and brush your Goldendoodle’s coat every day to remove any loose hair. If you can’t, three to four times weekly at least is a must.
- Hair Trimming: Trimming your pooch’s hair every month to two months, along with trimming the hair from its ear canal. In that way, your Goldendoodle’s coat will stay well-kept and tidy, and its ears will be free of excess hair and less prone to ear infections.
- Ear Cleaning: It’s important to pay attention to your Doodle’s ears during grooming sessions. Like trimming a Goldendoodle’s ears, cleaning and drying them after bathing, showering, or swimming is essential to keep ear infections at bay. You should also consider using a dog ear cleaner in each ear canal every week.
- Nail Trimming: Do this using a dog nail trimmer at least monthly for your Goldendoodle puppy from an early age. It can make sense to trim your dog’s nails every fortnight, depending on the individual dog and its habits. You’ll know it’s time for a trim when you can hear the nails clicking on the ground.
- Bathing: Bathe your Goldendoodle puppy every month after you get it, and as it gets older, before every haircut at least. Take into account whether your pet has shorter or longer hair, and how outdoorsy it is when deciding on bathing frequency. Be aware of the dog shampoo you’re using and if any severe scratching happens after a bath, change it!
- Haircuts: Consider giving your Goldendoodle’s coat a trim every six weeks to two months to prevent matting and tangled hair. Many Doodle owners prefer to send their best friend for a treat at a professional groomer at haircut time. It’s no easy task to groom a Goldendoodle, although regular professional grooming can get pricy.
Why Do You Need to Groom Goldendoodles Often?
Let’s consider the reasons to groom a Goldendoodle on a regular basis in a little more detail:
Keeping a healthy coat
When you groom a Goldendoodle by combing and brushing its fur, you’re actually doing more than just making its coat tidier. Golden Retriever-type fur, like that on most Goldendoodles, relies on natural oils from the body to keep it looking shiny and keep it hydrated.
The sebaceous glands found behind a Doodle’s neck and also close to its rump, tail, chin, and paws, produce a greasy substance called sebum. Sebum contains a whole lot of fatty acids that cover your Goldendoodle’s skin and hair follicles, assisting in keeping its coat healthy. These acids also include antibiotic properties that prevent the spread of certain bacteria.
By means of the regular combing and brushing that you give your best friend, you’re actually aiding its health as well as its appearance. Brushing and combing help to filter the sebum through the fur, reaching areas where it might have difficulty reaching on its own.
The more these fatty acids are spread, the healthier your pet’s fur will be. This healthy fur provides your Goldendoodle with additional insulation in both the heat and the cold as well. Goldendoodle owners who give regular grooming sessions are doing a lot more than just making their pets look good!
Reducing matting
Goldendoodle coats are originals! They’re very likely to mat, tangle, and knot sooner rather than later. You’ll prevent matting if you brush and comb your dog daily, for which your Doodle will be very grateful. The dog’s hair length, combined with a need to scratch that pesky and constant itch, results in tangling and matting of the fur.
What causes itching and the scratching that follows? Allergies, friction, and infestation from parasites like fleas are the major causes, and all of these are encouraged by matted fur.
Matting traps moisture in the fur, leading to bacterial and parasitic breeding zones, which can then cause infection. Matting in the fur also causes discomfort due to limiting your dog’s movement. The vicious cycle caused by matted and tangled fur leads to further problems, which can cause further matted and tangled fur.
This can all be avoided through regular grooming by brushing and combing.
As much as regular grooming is about keeping your Goldendoodle’s coat healthy, there’s another important factor that it contributes to. Are you still building a relationship with a new Goldendoodle puppy? Grooming sessions are an excellent way of growing a solid bond built on faith with your dog.
Besides that, it also enhances the social element of your new relationship. The more time that you spend giving your new pride and joy attention and love, the closer your bond will grow. Like any new relationship, this builds trust and your puppy will grow used to your touch, and secondly, will not be so wary of the touch of others either.
Think about it. Your vet will be happier, as will a visiting child that potentially plays a bit rough. If your Goldendoodle is more comfortable with the physical attention of humans, there’ll be less of an adverse reaction. Isn’t that beneficial for all concerned?
How to Ensure a Healthy and Tidy Coat on Your Goldendoodle
When you want to groom a Goldendoodle, it’s a really good idea to have the best tools for the job. A well-made, slicker brush that’s had some thought go into its design is the right place to start. With straight, wavy, or curly gorgeous coats, Goldendoodles will need brushes suited to the task. So many cheaper brushes won’t do the job properly.
Your brush needs to reach into the hair all the way to its roots, and you don’t want your brush falling apart when trying to do so! There are specially designed brushes that work for every different dog coat type, taking into account the length and thickness. Ask your pet store owner to help – it’ll be worth the extra money.
Oh, don’t forget to find a solid comb too! It’s what’s needed to reach the tricky areas around your Doodle’s ears and face that need a gentler touch. And if you’re bypassing a professional groomer and trimming your Goldendoodle’s coat at home, look for a decent pair of grooming scissors. Some high-quality clippers that’ll deal with its coat type won’t go amiss either.
We’ve already touched on the other important tasks needed to groom a Goldendoodle properly, but keeping your pet’s hair clean and manageable will make your daily and weekly grooming routine that much easier. You can always leave the other less frequent tasks for a professional grooming service if you choose.
Making certain you have the perfect tools for the grooming job goes a long way to achieving great results. These will make sure your Goldendoodle’s coat stays healthy and tidy. With these tools, in time, maybe you’ll consider becoming a professional groomer yourself?!
How to Bathe a Goldendoodle
A primary step in caring for Goldendoodles’ gorgeous coats is giving them a bath. Perish the thought! Many Doodle owners would rather load their pets up and drop them off at professional groomers than contemplate the task! Fortunately, you shouldn’t do it more than once monthly.
Bathing your Goldendoodle more regularly isn’t a good idea as it could reduce the natural oils that line its skin to keep its fur shiny and healthy. There are exceptions, however. If your pet is a “roller” and enjoys the smell of a nasty odor on its body, you’re advised to invest in some waterless shampoo. This will go some way to making its unique coat, well, a little less unique.
Popping your Goldendoodle puppy in the bath when it’s young will make the whole process so much easier when it grows up. Both a Poodle and a Golden Retriever are normally very happy in water so get your pup familiar with the bathing process early on. You want to reduce the chances of Doodle splashing all over you and the bathroom in the future!
Another magic word when it comes to doggie bath time is treats! Try smearing a meat spread or some peanut butter on the side of your bathtub to keep your doggo interested while applying the shampoo. If it becomes a regular occurrence, it’ll also encourage your pet to look forward to bathtimes a little more in the future.
Now it’s time to concentrate on the washing process from start to finish. Here’s hoping it’ll make things a little easier for you at that dreaded time of the month!
The washing process
Start with a brush and comb
Before you put your furry friend in the tub, give it a good comb and brush to remove any knots or tangles that’ll make the washing process more difficult. Waiting until after washing to brush means having to deal with tightening knots (which happens in water) and potentially having to cut them out.
While you brush, pay heed to the areas around the ears and tail, and under the legs, where tangles easily happen. Brushing your Goldendoodle is also a way of relaxing it before it’s time to get wet.
Keep your tools handy
Keep everything you need at hand. Your bathing brush, towel, dog shampoo, and anything else you plan to use should be within reach. The last thing you want to do is leave your Doodle alone while you search for something you’ve forgotten. Your dog-bathing process will become a bathroom-cleaning process too!
Bathing your pet
If you have a nervous Goldendoodle in the bathtub, consider using a dog shampoo with calming essential oil ingredients to settle your best friend. You might also want a doggie conditioner and special spray for dealing with tangles if your Doodle’s hair is long and wavy. Whatever you do, avoid using people’s products on your canine. It’s not good for their skin!
Make sure you soak your dog thoroughly with warm water before applying the shampoo. Dampen its face with a facecloth, but try not to get too much water into the eye region or into the ears, as this might unsettle your pooch. When your Goldendoodle is properly wet, add the shampoo, rubbing it gently into every area of your pet’s body.
Pay close attention to around the ears, and underneath the legs and tail. Make sure you get a good lather going to properly wash the fur, but be cautious to not get soap into the eyes or ears. Once your pet is all soaped up, pour some lukewarm water over it, making sure to repeat the process until every trace of shampoo is gone.
Drying your Doodle
After your fur buddy is totally clean, help it out of the tub and dry it quickly and completely, especially if the environment is chilly. Use a patting motion to dry a Goldendoodle’s curly or wavy hair as rubbing will likely cause tangles and a need for extender brushing. You can even use a hairdryer with a cool setting if your pet is comfortable with it. Once your dog is totally dry, give it another good brush.
How to Trim a Goldendoodle
Rule number one in trimming is not to trim your Doodle while its hair is wet. When it’s wet, hair often shrinks meaning that you could end up with an uneven and unnatural-looking trim. Clippers can be useful in certain areas, especially if you’re not confident with scissors. Start the process by trimming around your Goldendoodle’s ears, but not in the ear itself.
Trimming the hair around your pet’s ears helps to stop a buildup of moisture. It’ll also increase air circulation, which helps to avoid ear infections.
Next, clear the hair surrounding your Doodle’s eyes to assist with clearer vision, and then trim off some hair around the mouth as well. This is quite difficult, so be careful. Your dog will end up with less hair in both its mouth and stomach, though! Finally, trim the hair around the feet and your pet’s body, ideally with your clippers.
Giving a Goldendoodle’s first haircut could be a risky affair if you’re a novice. It might be better to leave it to a professional groomer and observe them in action until you’re more experienced with trimming.
Other Important Grooming Tasks
Nobody said that it was easy doing regular grooming on a Goldendoodle! You love your faithful canine so you’ll do all you can to ensure it lives its best life, won’t you? That includes doing the following necessary tasks when they’re warranted:
Cleaning the ears
Goldendoodles and other breeds with drop ears can easily pick up ear infections, both bacterial and fungal. This is a real problem that Doodle owners have to deal with, which is why it is imperative you trim your dog’s ears and keep its ear canal dry and clear. Trimming its ears may be irritating for your best friend, but it’s certainly preferable to the painful alternative.
Checking the eyes
As Goldendoodles age, they can develop visual impairments and it’s best to catch any issues early. Inspect your pet’s eyes for any signs of cloudiness, milky areas, or unusual discharge from the eyes. Your doggo will let you know if it has injured its eye by using its paw on the area or rubbing it against household items. Don’t ignore this if you notice it!
Check the eye for bruising, red areas, scratches, or discoloration. There may even be a piece of sand, stone, or grass in the eye. If you see anything out of the ordinary, and the problem persists, take your fur buddy to the vet for a checkup.
Trimming the nails
Long nails can cause notable pain in Doodles if they’re active dogs and often walk on hard surfaces. Your furry friend can do real damage to its feet if a long nail splits, or bends back and pierces the dog’s skin on its paw pad. For these reasons, nail clipping is an important part of regular grooming.
You may be frightened that you’ll injure your fur buddy if you try to trim its nails, especially the dew claw. If this is the case, don’t just leave it – take your Goldendoodle to a professional groomer instead.
FAQs
Should I clean my Goldendoodle’s teeth?
Many dog owners don’t realize how important it is to watch your pet’s dental health, and it’s not just about its breath smelling better! Old food and plaque buildup can mean harmful bacteria accumulate, causing real health issues. So yes, brush your Groodle’s teeth on occasion.
When you do, use a dog toothbrush that has softer bristles than a normal one. Also, use dog toothpaste too. Human toothpaste can include ingredients harmful to dogs, so visit your pet store for a canine alternative.
Should I groom my Goldendoodle puppy?
Your puppy won’t need grooming as much as a fully grown dog does, but that doesn’t mean that it won’t enjoy a good brushing. Grooming your pup is also a more pleasurable experience than going through every part of grooming an adult dog. It also gets your puppy used to the grooming process for when the time comes when it really needs it. And you’ll start bonding!
How do I clean my Goldendoodle’s ears?
It’s not important to clean your Doodle’s ears when you start grooming your new best friend, but as it gets older, an ear cleaning may be necessary. Use a cotton ball and a canine ear cleaning solution to softly clean your pet’s ears. Just don’t push the cotton ball too deep into the ear canal, and stop cleaning as soon as your dog seems uncomfortable.