Labradoodles & Dogs

Do Labradoodles Need Haircuts?

Labradoodles coats require grooming regularly. Grooming also involves proper trimming and cutting their hair besides bathing, trimming nails, and cleaning its skins and teeth. A good haircut helps your Labradoodle look fantastic and feel his best. To keep your doodle’s coat mats free, you will need to give it a trim or a haircut. Especially in the summer, when it is boiling, and your dog does a lot of outdoor activities trimming its coat will keep him stay cool and clean.

Labradoodles can have three coat types: hair coat, wool, and fleece coat. Hair coat may be straight or wavy and the most likely shed. It is the most natural coat of the three to care for as your dog will naturally molt. To keep the wool coat long and flowing will require more maintenance. The wool coat looks beautiful when cut shorter and is very easy to maintain. If you want to keep your Labradoodle’s short wool coat looking great, then you will need to be trim or clip its coat three or four times a year.

How Often Does Your Labradoodle Need a Haircut?

To determine how often you should trim or cut your Labradoodles hair, you will need to consider the below factors.

• How fast does your Labradoodle’s hair grow?
• What length do you like to see your dog’s coat at?
• What type of lifestyle does your dog have?
• How old is your dog?

Because Labradoodles often inherit their poodle parent’s genes, so their hair can grow exceptionally faster than the other breeds.

Every dog owner is different in how they like to see their dog’s coat. The standard coat length of a labradoodle should be 4-6 inches long. If you wish to see it short, then trimming your doodle’s coat every 6–8 weeks will keep the fluff off. But if you like to see your doodle fluffy, then you should probably get away with trimming their coat every three to four months.

How often you should cut your doodle’s hair also depends on his lifestyle. If he is a very active dog and likes to run around the dog park or go to the beach quite often, then taking care of his coat is imperative. So keep his coat short would be ideal for keeping him clean and his coat untangled and mats free. The less time he does at home, the more time you will spend at the groomers.

If your doodle is old with medical issues, then I would recommend you to keep the grooming minimum. It can be uncomfortable for elderly dogs. So, go for a more practical haircut and ditch any fancy hairstyles like teddy bear cuts, etc.

Labradoodle Haircut – How To Trim a Labradoodle’s Hair?

To give your labradoodle a haircut at home, you will need the below instruments.

• Hair Clippers (standard #10 blade)
• Comb Attachments for the clippers
• Grooming Comb for dogs
• Pair of scissors

Grooming Basics

Start at the base of the skull and then work your way down through the body of the dog. With the clippers, trim the hair down the legs, back, underneath the sides, and the tummy. When you get to the rump portion of the back of the dog, pull the tail between the legs and comb over the backside to smooth out any stray hairs.

Groin area

Clip underneath the belly about a third of the way up to the private area. Also, clip the hair between the legs and on the bum area on the backside of the dog. Be careful not to cut too short and not to clip too far up the tail exposing more of the rectum area.

Paw, Pads and Feet

With the grooming comb, comb all the hair down, flush with the ground around the paw pads. Then turn the dog’s foot over and use the clippers to clean that area. You want to clean it flush and be careful not to remove too much hair exposing any more of the under portion of the foot other than the paw pads. After you’ve cleaned that area, go ahead and set the leg back down, brush their hair down again and make sure it’s nice and straight. Now clip around all the remaining hair, flush with the grooming table, so it’s nice, clean, and consistent. Make sure not to trim too much, so it exposes the knuckles.

Eyes

For the eyes area, use a thinning shear if possible to avoid any purposeful or blunt cuts in the eye. Use the scissors to only do the corner of the eye, from about half an inch down both on the right and left, so it’s clean and well blended.

Ears

Back portion – Comb the hair straight down, all the way down the ear leather on the front side of the ear. Then use a straight scissor to cut the hair from the back portion of the ear to the tip of the ear.

Front portion – Comb the hair straight. Cut from halfway down the air leather to the tip of the ear making sure that you don’t cut too far up the ear leather to remove too much of the hair making sure that you cut from that front section halfway through down the ear leather as well to the tip the ear.

Tip of the ear – Comb from the top of the ear down to the base of the ear and straighten all the hair. Take your scissors and round the tip of the ear, making sure that you don’t have a point or sharp angles. Make sure that you only curve around the ear leather.

Top of the Head

The next section that you will be working on is the top of the head of the base of the skull. Comb all of your Labradoodle’s hair back into a ponytail. Put it between your fingers at an angle. Cut it down at an angle towards the back about an inch off the base of the skull.

The next section is the bangs on your Labradoodle. Comb the hair forward and cut an inverted V above the nose or in between the eyes. Use a thinning shear for this. It will expose the eyes and give your doodle that clean look around the eyes. Once you’ve made your inverted V’s, use your thinning shears to blend in from the shortest portion to the longest portion of that bang area so that you don’t have any blunt cut marks within the bang area on your dog’s face.

Muzzle

To trim the muzzle on your Labradoodle, be sure to comb all the hair forward. Use your thinning shears to remove any hair that’s longer or irregular from the angle down from the muzzle to the beard. It will shape and refine the look in the face of your Labradoodle.

Tidying up

Lastly, use your shears to remove any stray hairs or uneven hairs from the grooming process when you were using the clipper.

Labradoodle Haircut Styles

Because of Labradoodles’ active lifestyle, you should give your labradoodle a haircut that is comfortable for him and low maintenance. There are different haircuts for Labradoodles, depending on their coat types, and we have put together three most popular hairstyle options for your labradoodle.

Short Hair

This style of haircut is very simple and straightforward. The basic haircut that we mentioned earlier is pretty much the short haircut for Labradoodles. In a short cut, you keep your Labradoodles coat short, generally around one inch long all over the body to them clean and tangle-free.

For an ideal short haircut, clip your labradoodle’s body (except the head, tail, and feet) about an inch or shorter and trim the rest by hand. Guideline for short haircuts:

• Ear hair is not too long
• Eyes are not covered with hair
• Hair under the chin is not so long
• Well rounded muzzle
• Nicely shaped feet
• Overall hair is no longer than an inch

Keeping your labradoodle’s coat short can save you from brushing them frequently, but you will need to trim them regularly. You can either take them to a groomer or cut them at home.

Labradoodles with Short Haircut

Long Hair

Longer hair requires frequent brushing to keep them tangle-free. Many people prefer longer cut for their Labradoodles because it makes them look cuddly. It is the same as the short haircut, just longer. The hair is cut at about two inches all over your dog’s body.

If you want your labradoodle to look cute and cuddly, then this is the perfect style. Just make sure that you brush your doodle’s coat every couple of days to keep it free from dirt, mats, and tangles.

Labradoodles with Long Haircut

The Teddy Bear Cut

The teddy bear cut gives your labradoodle a cute stuffed bear look. You will need to trim your doodle’s coat to the short length you desire and leave the face, ears with longer hair. The hair around the face should be round and full, which will give your doodle the stuffed animal look. Teddy bear cut is a bit more high maintenance because you will need to do regular touch-ups.

For a teddy bear haircut, it would be ideal if you take your doodle to a professional groomer to ensure that your doodle gets the right look.

Labradoodles with Teddy Bear Cut

Labradoodle Haircut for Summer

During the summertime, your labradoodle can be overheated easily and pant a lot. If your doodle’s coat is very thick and heavy, then you can clip his hair very short. So you don’t have to worry about him getting too hot during the summer months. Both short and Teddy bear haircuts are perfect Labradoodle haircuts for summer.

Labradoodle Haircut for Winter

Labradoodles do fine with both short and long hair in the winter. Many labradoodle owners keep their doodles’ coat short throughout the year. If you think its too cold outside and your doodle’s hair is short, then you can always put a nice doggie jacket on him when you take him out for a walk in the winter.

Labradoodle Haircuts Before and After

Summary

When it comes down to what is the right hair cut for your labradoodle, it all depends on how much grooming you are prepared to do and how you like your doodle to look.