Doodle Coats

Because we have been blessed with several litters now, I have a much better idea of what a Goldendoodle coat is like.  F1 Goldendoodles have a single coat that sheds lightly. There are two coat types, one being shaggy & wavy, and the other being shaggy & wavy with loose curls. A Goldendoodle puppy will have several coat changes from birth to one year of age.  It is hard to completely tell what your puppy’s coat will look like until it is grown. When the adult coat is coming in, it is very important to maintain a regular brushing schedule.  The time frame from about 6 months to one year of age seems to be the time when matting really takes off.  The coat is easier to maintain after all of the puppy coat has shed out.  I have followed our previous puppies and we have been blessed to keep two Goldendoodles for our family.  Most of our past puppies have long and wavy coats. They ranged from very mild to moderate shedding.  Our Gabby and Calli now have their adult coats, and I have learned a lot from them.  We originally decided to keep their coats long and natural.  We hoped to bathe and brush them out home.  This worked great for a while, but we lost control of their coats when adult coats started coming in.  We realized that a clipping was needed.  We had to take Gabby and Calli’s coats down very short and start over again.  Hopefully it will be easier to maintain now that their adult coats are completely in.  I use a groomer for my Poodles, and she advised me on what the best clippers to buy would be.  I think that a Goldendoodle coat is much easier to groom than a Poodle coat.  To properly groom a Poodle, you need to bathe and blow the coat out straight prior to their coats being clipped.  For that reason I always take the Poodles to be professionally groomed.  We are able to groom the Goldendoodles ourselves, but most of our families do have their puppies professionally groomed. 

Our F1b Goldendoodle puppies will bring us a different coat type.  Because they are ¾ Toy Poodle, they should have curlier coats.  Their coats should be basically shed free.  Most F1b Doodles will be even more allergy friendly than the F1 Doodles.  More than likely you will geta more Poodle like coat, and need to groom it as such.  Because of the genetics involved there is a chance that some F1b coats could be straighter and less Poodle like though.

We will experience yet another coat type with our Labradoodle puppies.  Because our first experience with Labradoodles will be this year, I have researched to know what to expect with a Labradoodle coat. It appears that a Labradoodle coat can be either straight, wavy ormore Poodle like with spiral curls.  First generation crosses (F1 – which is what we will have) appear to have more coat variety even within the same litter.  After following a few of both Emme and Bella’s litters, I will be able to give you a much better idea.  Until then, I will have to dependon the research of others.

As a side note, many people question if they should clip their dog’s coat short for summer.  My groomer informed me that dogs are cooled through their noses and the pads of their feet. If you keep the hair around their nose and between their feet pads clipped she said that they should be fine without clipping their coats short. She also recommended brushing their coats regularly to get any dead hair out.  A short summer clipping might be a good idea if your dog spends a lot of time swimming in the summer though. It will make the coat easier to manage.