Sookster

We let the pups stay fluffy if that's what the raiser wants, but 3 inches would be the upper end of length. Most of them are kept scissored down to about 2 inches on the legs, 1 inch on the body tops. About half of them get shaved down once/month instead of an actual groom because they just don't want to deal with the hair.

Raisers aren't allowed to trim their own dogs nails unless they have experience working in a field where that was a required skill (grooming shop, vet tech, etc). Nails are trimmed about twice a month either by me or by their meeting coordinator at a training meeting. I pluck ears when they get groomed each month.

Our program has a general "no more than one bath/month" rule for our pups to decrease skin issues. Do you think that the weekly bath is important enough for me to pressure them to lift this for poodles? What purpose does the weekly bath serve (other than cleaning) that makes it important to do weekly (considering they WILL NOT be getting a blow-out afterward, because the raisers don't have dryers)? I'm asking so that I have ammo if I approach the higher-ups about it.

We also require them to have clean faces and feet until they are about 6 months old. After that, the face has to be kept short and the feet can be kept in teddy bear style if they choose. However, after 6 months of clean face/feet, none of them WANT hair on the face/feet anymore No mustaches or doodle faces allowed.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Does anyone have any tips I can give them for the actual bathing of the dog? Such as:
-How to make sure they are getting shampoo all the way to the skin on the ones with longer coats?
-How to make sure they are rinsing the dog thoroughly and not leaving shampoo residue?

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Ladyscarletthawk

For show dogs we bathe to help the hair grow as brushing dirty hair is like sandpaper to the hair. Also something more important to allergy dogs, is washing allergens or irritating material off their skin and coat. I notice if I dont bathe my dogs once a week or two they stop itching.. ever gone longer than 2 days of not wahing your hair.. it starts to itch.

-How to make sure they are getting shampoo all the way to the skin on the ones with longer coats?
Hard to explain.. best of you dilute the shampoo in a gallon or two of water.. The hair when you first get it wet feels like the curls that are there, but the more you saturate the coat it feels silky somewhat like our hair would if we were in a pool or tub of water. Soaping up twice helps get the shampoo to the skin too.

-How to make sure they are rinsing the dog thoroughly and not leaving shampoo residue? When you think you are done rinse some more lol. If the dog is soap free, use a wet well rinsed hand to stroke thru the coat then rub your fingers together... if there are still soap bubbles then rinse until there is none.

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Laura, Eve, and Fergie