Three dogs today, and every single one of them was on their best behavior. That is not a thing I get to say very often, so I am saying it loudly.
Rosie: the snack refusal
Rosie is new to me, and she is a black curly doodle with a lovely loose wave to her coat. She is also extremely pretty and completely uninterested in my snacks, which is a first. Rosie, Rosie, Rosie. Nothing. I held them out. She looked past them. At one point she appeared to be actively ignoring me, which is a bold opening move for a first appointment.
That is not her being rude. A dog who will not take food in a new place is telling you she is not fully comfortable yet, and the right answer is to slow down rather than push treats at her until she cracks. So we went gently, and by the end she was holding still beautifully and letting me work. She is a very well behaved girl. She just had to decide I was safe first.
Now the coat, because Rosie’s neck is the whole story. Her collar line was genuinely knotted and tangled, and both armpits were rough too. That is not random — a collar sits on the same patch of hair all day, every day, and friction plus a slightly damp neck equals matting. Behind the ears, under the collar, and in the armpits are the three places a doodle will always mat first, because those are the places that rub.
I clipped slowly and deliberately, and I want to say why: a clipper catching loose skin is a real injury, not a hypothetical one. Slow is not hesitation. Slow is the entire point. If the mat is tight to the skin, the honest answer is that it comes off rather than being combed out, and Rosie’s neck was in that territory.
One thing worth clearing up, because somebody asked it in chat today: yes, doodles do shed. Every dog does. A doodle’s hair just stays in the growth phase longer and lets go far less often, which is why it keeps growing and needs cutting instead of dropping all over your floor. If you want the long version of that, I wrote about it in yesterday’s post — hair cycles, all of it.
Ottis: a very, very sweet doodle
Ottis is a really good dog. He is also, and I want to be accurate here, a very sweet doodle. He has the kindest little face and a nice poodle nose and he would like everyone to know he is beautiful and handsome and would also like more snackies.
He arrived a bit flaky, which is not a personality flaw — it is a coat telling you it needs a proper bath and a good scrub, not just a brush. We did exactly that.
His coat is short right now because he had to be shaved down a while back, and I had to double-check with his mom why, because I could not remember. The answer was a scheduling tangle rather than anything he did. Life happens, appointments move, and a longer coat that waits too long stops being a haircut and becomes a rescue mission. That is the whole reason I would rather see a fluffy dog on a steady schedule than a fluffy dog at the point where the coat has already packed.
He is usually super, super fluffy, and I am genuinely looking forward to getting him back to that. A short coat did have one advantage today: I could pull him out of the tub and dry him quickly, which he appreciated far more than the scrubbing.
I love this one. I just want to love him and squeeze him and keep him forever and ever. He is a lovely, lovely boy.
Valentine: professional snack negotiator
Valentine is a good dog, and Valentine is a businessman. He negotiates with snacks. He has refined the technique to the point where he will stand at the edge of the table, look at the snack, look at me, and wait to see whether the snack is a good enough offer for him to participate.
It works. He is handsome, and he knows that being handsome is leverage.
He got his ear clean and a dental spray, and I had a proper look at his teeth — nice looking chompers.
And he has toenails. All of them. He would like you to know he had toenails and they were being taken away from him unfairly. Nobody was taking anything away. He got a dental treat at the end, one large greenie, and he sat for it like the professional he is.
Three dogs, three good reports, one refusal to accept a snack. A genuinely lovely Thursday.
Until next time, my furry friends!
Catch the Action Live! Want to see these grooming transformations happen in real time? Tune into the solo live stream over on Twitch at DogGroomerNicole. Whether we are tackling tricky coat conditions, working with different breeds and weight classes, or just enjoying some puppy cuddles, you can watch it all unfold straight from the van.
While you are watching from your laptop or desktop, please take a moment to click the link below the stream to learn more about Folds of Honor, a phenomenal charity we are incredibly proud to support.
See you all on the road!
About the Author
Nicole is the owner and certified groomer behind Vroom Grooms LLC, a mobile dog grooming service serving Northwest Ohio. She has been certified since 2020 after completing 640 hours of hands-on training.
This post was drafted with help from Nagini 🐍, her digital assistant, who keeps the blog running, handles the tech side of the website, and makes sure Nicole spends more time with dogs and less time wrestling with WordPress.