Water dogs and Doodles are wonderfully fun, sweet, loyal, hardworking, energetic dogs with a fantastic coat. Truly dogs to fall head over heels in love with. Especially as puppies, they can melt your heart. But what coat care is needed for Doodles?
To keep the coat of a Water Dog or Doodle nice and long and free of tangles, regular brushing and trimming is essential.
For dog sports like agility or obedience, he is highly suitable, but it is important to teach him with care and patience.
Once he learns to swim, he will love to do it.
To his “own” people, he is a delightful house dog that enjoys being pampered.
He has a high pet-ability factor.
Care for Doodles or Water Dogs
An advantage of the Lagotto Romagnolo, a Miniature Poodle, and most Doodles is that they hardly shed. This makes them suitable for people who are allergic to dogs. Note: Hybrid dogs may shed! Call us for more detailed information.
The coat does require maintenance. The coat tends to tangle.
Tangles can become a haven for pests, etc. Therefore, regular brushing (at least once every two weeks) is a “must.”
It is possible to have the dog shaved almost bald twice a year. However, if you don’t like a bald dog, he will need to visit the groomer about four times a year for a trim. Alternatively, you can learn to groom your dog yourself.
Removing hair growth in the ears is a point of attention. Coat care for Doodles is an important consideration after acquiring a puppy.
When is the coat ready for trimming?
Going through a grooming appointment costs every dog a lot of energy. A dog that regularly gets groomed will have an easier time with it than a dog that gets brushed at home occasionally but only goes to the groomer twice a year.
Coat care for Doodles: Since the coat of a Water Dog or Doodle requires a lot of maintenance, it’s important to get your dog used to the grooming process as soon as possible. The earlier you acclimatize your dog, the more benefit you will have later on.
The best time is to have your puppy go through a so-called puppy habituation process around 15 weeks. During this procedure, the puppy learns what it is like to stand on a table for an extended period while someone works on her body and coat, what it is like to take a bath, and to be thoroughly washed.
If the puppy is exposed to a force dryer and hairdryer (which can be a scary first encounter), to being lifted and having her paws trimmed, etc. The more the puppy is accustomed to regular brushing, washing/drying, lifting paws, holding her head, checking teeth, and similar actions from home, the less stressful the first grooming experience will be.
Moreover, it is very important that the puppy learns to stay calm in someone else’s hands while her owner is not there to keep her secure from the outside world; in other words, the puppy learns to function independently.
The first real grooming session can only take place once the coat has grown sufficiently, usually after 5 to 7 months. By then, the coat will have grown long enough that it is high time to trim the feet, pluck the ears, and shorten the coat a bit, so it hangs less and regains more shine and body.
Tips for coat care for Doodles
What do you do if your Water Dog or Labradoodle is soaking wet and dirty, and you don’t want to spend hours washing and drying the coat?
Most Water Dogs love water, swimming, splashing around in muddy puddles, and often return from walks with wet, dirty paws that leave a lot of sand behind in your house, on the floor, the furniture, etc. Coat care for Doodles is also important during these moments.
A walk in pouring rain or a day at the beach can leave quite the mark as well. This is not a pleasant situation for you as the owner, but you also know that once you start washing your dog, you’ll spend 2 hours of your time. Water Dogs, however, do not get wet quickly (with a little shake, most coats dry quickly), but when they are really wet, it takes an eternity for the coat to dry again.
An unfortunate side effect is that a coat that becomes tangled when wet reacts like wool in a washing machine: the coat mats. This means that the coat must always be brushed while drying to prevent matting. For more information on the differences and similarities between a Labradoodle and Lagotto Romagnolo, you can consult this article.
Many owners are not yet aware of this happy fact, with all the problems that entails.
An ideal tool to solve this problem is the water dryer. Are you interested in purchasing a Lagotto Romagnolo puppy? Then visit our website for more information.
This is a device that blows air with extreme force (a sort of reverse vacuum cleaner) which, if it has a heated setting, can also be used as a very powerful hairdryer. The device blows so powerfully that it blows all the water, dirt, and sand out of the coat (you can literally see it splash out of the coat).
How to use?
Since the water and dirt literally splatter out of the coat, using a water dryer requires a space that can get wet and dirty: think outdoors, in the shed/garage, the utility room, possibly the bathroom, or another suitable area.
Upon returning home, you may want to first dab the paws and body with a towel to absorb most of the moisture.
Then you turn on the water dryer on the cold setting, starting with the paws and moving further up (during the very first time, set it to the lowest setting so the dog can get used to the blowing force) and blow from the root of the hair, while you move the hose lightly (so the hose doesn’t stay blowing on one spot for too long. This is especially important if you have turned on the heated setting!).
This way, you blow dry the entire dog. Note: when blowing out the ears, always keep the ear canal closed and never blow into the eyes and other vulnerable parts of your dog!!! Don’t forget to blow out the inside of the front and hind legs, the undersides of the paws, and the tail.
If you feel that your dog is mostly clean, you can switch on the heated setting and dry your dog in the same manner. If your dog is then dry enough for your liking, you are done and can let your dog back into the house with peace of mind.
