© 2006 |
There are NO feral Poodles! Poodles require regular (at least every 6 to 8 weeks) grooming (which includes shaving the face, feet, tummy and bath and dry of body and then clipping the body coat) and nail shortening, ear cleaning and brushing at least once a week. If you can't afford to have your dog regularly professionally groomed or can't devote the time and effort to do this work yourself then you should NOT have a Poodle! Poodles do die from not being groomed as the hair around their mouths and rectum mats together and they can not eat nor defecate.
One of the most important grooming principles for field Poodles is to keep the hair out of their eyes. Retrievers must primarily use their eyes to mark where a shot bird has gone down and if they don't learn to use their eyes as puppies their success will be limited. A dog naturally preferentially uses its nose over its eyes so if the top knot hair is allowed to interfere with sight and the dog doesn't learn to use its eyes for field work there is little hope for successful training. Most people prefer to keep their field Poodle in what is known as a field clip or sporting clip. This is a clip wherein the face, feet and base of tail and tummy are shaved close to the skin and the rest of the body is clipped with a short comb on the clipper or a #4 blade. The ears and tail are clipped short and the head hair is either scissored into a short cap or shaved with a longer comb. This type of clip enables the dog to swim through vegetation, run through weeds without picking up much in the way of burrs and seeds, and is still enough coat to protect the body from cool weather. If your dog is training or hunting in a cold climate or swimming in water colder than about 55 degrees you may wish to make sure that there is a layer of fat under the skin. It is important that the dog NOT be considered FAT, however. Just a few mm of fat will further protect the dog from getting excessively cold. Most Poodles tolerate cold water very well. Excessively long hair, such as is seen in the conformation show coats, can be dangerous. A heavy coat laden with water is difficult to drag through the water and markedly slows the dogs swimming speed and can get caught in water vegetation and result in a tangled and even drowned dog.
An example of the "HCC" The conformation clip known as "Hunting Class Clip" (HCC) (aka historically correct clip) is really a shortened version of the Continental show clip and sports a scissored top knot. If you have only one dog to maintain or lots of free time then you might find that this is an attractive clip. Make sure that the body hair does not get excessively long as it will gather up lots of seeds, burrs, rose bush stalks, and foxtails, and result in rapid matting and LOTS OF WORK to maintain. For help with ear care please see the ear care pamphlet. For help with nail care go to this page. |
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C. 2006 |
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