Tips for Grooming Your Poodle
By Jennifer Chen
My Doggie Dreamland Columnist
Have you ever seen those Poodles with a glamorous hairdo? If that's what you want for your Poodle, I've put together a step-by-step guide for you.
Before going further, you'll need the right equipment. You'll need an ear powder (medicated), a steel comb, nail clippers, a #15 blade, and a slicker brush.
1. First you'll need to clean the ears. You'll use the ear powder and dust the inside of the ears. Also, you'll want to pull out any dead hairs using your fingers. Then you'll want to use the nail clippers just to remove the tips. So to start cutting, you'll use the #15 blade to start clipping the feed. You'll be using the ankle bone as a guide. Then you'll click up one side, using the corner to the blade, then up the opposite site of the toes. Then take the hair out around the feet.
2. Using the #15 blade, you can start clipping around the face. Start clipping from the bottom of the ear to the edge of the mouth. Then start clipping from the bottom of the eye down to the side of the muzzles. Then from the middle of the eyes to the tip of the nose. . Stretch the lips back with your thumb to remove the hair around this area. Do you want a mustache for you Poodle? Leave the hair on the muzzle from the sides of the mouth to the nose. From that you can clip around it to form the mustache. Then clean up the hairs around the face.
3. Clip the tail with the #15 blade going against the grain on the top side and with the grain on the underside. The amount of hair clipped from the tail depends on Nail Clipper (scissors type).
4. Clip the stomach area (from the groin to the navel) with the #10 blade. To set the pattern on the body use either a #10 or a #7 blade. Clip from the base of the skull to the base of the tailed. With the same blade clip down the entire rear leg to 1/4 inch above the hock joint. Also clip on the inside of the leg down to the same point. Clip down the sides of the neck, using the same blade, to the elbow, and then to a line on the front leg even with the line at the hock joint on the rear leg. Clip on the inside of the leg down to the same line. Clip the rest of the body with the same blade, back, and chest going with the grain.
5. Use the slicker brush for the leg hairs until it is mat free. Then bathe. You can use the fluff-dry method on the topknot, tail, ears, and leg pom-poms.
6. After drying, comb through the coat. Clip around the cuffs to make them even. Then you'll want to tease the leg bracelets (pom-poms) so that they appear fluffy. You can trim to even them out. Then use the scissors to trim the front of the legs so that the appear as the rear. You can them use the comb to tease the hair on your Poodles head. You can then clip and tease the tail pom-pom so that it looks fluffy too.
About the Author
Jennifer Chen is a dog training specialist and a contributing writer to MyDoggieDreamland.com
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