Poodles/doodles and wet and muddy country life

[Doodledilemma]

I have been offered a poodle cross which I am considering.

Im posting here as I have read that care of poodle coats is quite specific.
One thing I am thinking, is that I have an outdoors life style, and my dogs get wet and muddy frequently.

I know this won’t be a problem for the dog itself, but I realise that my other dogs are pretty smooth haired, whereas this one looks like a real mop.

I’ve never used dog groomers, a quick brush and occasional dunk in the bath has always been enough.
Any tips on dealing with muddy doodles?

Wash them off as soon as you get home and get a drying coat as it will take ages to dry them otherwise and you'll have damp dog smell lingering!

I don’t have a poodle or doodle but my schnauzer has to be washed off quickly or mud sticks in her fur and mats it. I have a “mud daddy” which is pretty good, and yes get a drying towel.

A friend has a short-coated dog and a doodle and wishes they'd gone for two of the same - one has a low maintenance coat but sheds so she has to vac/sweep daily and the other needs grooming every single day, washing off after muddy walks and clipping regularly. They say it would have been much simpler to do two dogs the same way.

We have a Lagotto with a similar coat and I’m constantly washing her. At least once a day at this time of year. Luckily we have a downstairs wet room that has basically become hers ;-). She has her legs and paws washed properly after every walk and a full shower probably 3-4 times a week currently - depending on how muddy she gets!

I read comments on here from people who just wipe their dogs down after a walk and bath them 3 times a year I disbelief. There is no way that would work for my dog. The mud gets embedded in the curls and there’s no way just wiping with a towel would fix that.

Doodles are basically walking velcro sponges - the one I mention above has come back from its walk with slugs attached before 😱

They do tend to be a magnet for sticks and debris that then lead to matting hence you see them in little pyjamas a lot. Obviously any mixed breed can have characteristics of both parents so poodle crosses have different densities of coat etc which are hard to judge without seeing it's coat

Doodles also need very regular grooming that's hard to do at home. I'd be budgeting for a monthly-6 weekly groomer visit also which is upwards of £35 where I am

Never appreciate my lab more than when we pass poodles/doodles that are absolutely caked in mud! Or in the summer ones that are sporting a nice collection of various grass seeds

I have a poodle and live in a very rural location and it rains here all the time (sigh), definitely no drought or hot weather for us last year, the only positive is that we're not on clay soil! Mine is clipped very short I just towel the worst off as he absolutely hates being bathed, leave him to dry and hoover the floors, we do have mainly wooden floors and he's not allowed on the beds, sofas/chairs have throws on them.
He goes to the dog groomers every 10 weeks and I never brush in between. I also own a double coated SHEDDING dog and do the same for him but he leaves hairs everywhere as well as mud.

I have a dog with a poodle type coat, she looks like a mop when not clipped. She goes to the groomers once every 6 weeks for a skinhead, number 1 all over. She comes back looking like a piglet. Like you I live in the country, lots of muddy walks so keeping her really short is the answer. And equafleeces to keep her warm.

Someone in the village has two cream ones. They say they wash them three times a day. The owners are retired!

I hose my lab then towel dry his paws. Sometimes I just let the mud dry then brush off or it just falls off. No groomers ever.

My poodle cross (with retriever) does need hosing down of legs and feet after every walk. She picks up little sticks and seeds on her fur in summer too. But on the plus side the hoovering is minimal. The low shedding suits us as we have allergies in the house and I’d rather wash a dog than hoover every day.

I clip her myself. I invested in good quality clippers and do it once every 6 weeks or so. She definitely doesn’t look the same as a professional groomer could achieve but she’s free from mats and comfortable.

When she was young she’d swim in the river most days and she got quite smelly, I’ll be honest. If she stays out of the water it’s not an issue.

Yes 6 weekly grooming for our Schnauzer, £40 a go 😫 we’ve tried doing it ourselves, but it’s very time consuming and makes a huge mess!

Equafleece coats and summer shirts are your best friend. Limit the mud to lower limbs, which makes life infinitely easier!!

Keep clipped short to prevent mats and the hell that is stickyweed season, and you'll be fine

@pistachioicecream How did you teach your dog to be good about paws wiping?

I never realised until relatively recently that some dogs have fur, and some hair. The advantages of fur are that it doesn’t need dog grooming, but moulting can occur. The advantages of hair is that it doesn’t moult, but it does need clipping every few weeks, which can get expensive.

This is all very helpful thank you. And very educational!
I think I’d always assumed professional grooming and clipping was just a pampering pooch experience, but I see that it’s a practical solution.
I’m thinking this may not be the right dog for this situation.

I clip my terrier myself with horse clippers.

@mrsfennel lots of treats to start with then she just got used to it. Its routine now - she leads me into the wet room when we get back from every walk so I think she's resigned to it. I do occasionally still give her the odd treat when we're in there but she never knows if its coming or not so maybe that helps too.

She's very sweet though. She lifts her paws for me one at a time to wash and then the same when she's standing on the towel afterwards so they can be dried.

Forgot to say before she also goes to the groomers every 6 weeks to stay on top of it too. We generally get her coat clipped off totally twice a year and then in the in between sessions its kept relatively short but not so short that you can't see her lovely curls.

Costs a fortune and is time consuming but as @Riverlee says, the upshot is that she doesn't shed at all and always smells lovely!

@pistachioicecream thank you for replying. yes treats seem the way!

I have a poodle mix, chosen because I cannot cope with shedding (this was something that only started bothering me after the birth of my first child, and the last 8 years of my previous dogs life was filled with constant sweeping and hoovering). Didn't get a poodle as I preferred the fleece coat of my mix.

Anyway, what they lack in hair shedding they make up for in mud 🤣

Honestly, I wouldn't get another. £60 every 5ish weeks for grooming, daily brushing, and I absolutely loathe taking him out when it's raining.

There are coats you can buy to keep them cleaner and dry when out and about, but will wait until he's fully grown as they aren't the cheapest and the fit needs to be precise, so would have to buy twice.

Salverus

Do I assume you are competent in horse clipping? How long did it take till you felt competent in equine/canine hairdressing?

I am just wondering if I can botch a DIY job on the dog. (As a person who doesn’t wear make up, and avoids the hairdresser as much as possible).

DrMeredithGrey2023
Thank you for your honesty. Can you direct me to the coats you mean?
I am wondering if the dogs get hot running round in puddle suits….

Equafleece, and I'm afraid I can't remember the name of the other brand, which is more raincoat material.

Sorry, I will just add - my boy is big. He's 26 kg at 10 months. If he was smaller, or we kept him shorter grooming wise, he wouldn't be as high cost/maintenance.

My groomer said to me that doodle mixes are her bread and butter, but none of her other clients with a dog the size of mine does the upkeep we do. They either don't take them regularly enough, so they become matted, or they keep them short.

I adore him, i really do. And he doesn't shed at all. But when he's wet and muddy it's an absolute nightmare.

If I could keep him in for a week after his groom so he looks all fancy for longer I probably would 🤣

I have a cockerpoo with a coat mostly (but not fully) of the poodle type. We also live in the country and she never met a ditch or muddy puddle she didn’t want to lie in 🙄. I get her clipped very short every 8 weeks and she wears a full equifleece pretty much all winter and if it’s raining or muddy- they are great and don’t overheat. I use a mud daddy on the legs and elsewhere if a non- equifleece walk backfired on me, and I don’t wash her unless she has fooled in fox poo. The poodle coat you really do need to dry off with a hairdryer and be careful drying with a towel as it knots if left wet, or use a detangling spray and brush through. Other than that I don’t brush her much due to the short cut except around ears and harness spots when coming to the 6-8 week window just before the next groom.

it sound a lot, but honestly I’m low maintenance personally too and rather lacking in patience but once you get into a routine it’s 5-10 mins after each walk so not a big deal, & she is worth it as they re generally such loving dogs and crazy fun.

"Honestly, I wouldn't get another. £60 every 5ish weeks for grooming, daily brushing, and I absolutely loathe taking him out when it's raining"
@DrMeredithGrey2023 I find this interesting I wonder if its because your dog is a poodle mix?.
As I said above mine goes to the groomer every 10 weeks and cost £40 round here (£45 for a big dog) I don't even own a brush for him. Most poodle owners are advised to take there dogs to the groomers every 8-12 weeks.