[mvhplank]

Interesting!

My "poodle mentor" and I were combing out Neely in her home grooming room and we kept combing out what I'd call "puppy coat"--except he just turned 3 years old.

You can feel the correct harsh coat over his shoulders and back, but we did pull out a lot of what seemed like fluffy undercoat. I don't know whether this has anything to do with being blue, a coat color that will continue to fade, instead of a good, solid black like his mom. His dad is a blue.

I'm an indifferent housekeeper at best and there are fluff-bunnies of his coat color (dark blue) in the corners.

He's definitely not a doodle, and his pedigree shows several generations of AKC champions. My boy holds a UKC show champion title and two legs toward grand champion (we need 3 more to finish).

Dealing with his puppy coat was a nightmare, because it would mat 5 minutes after you combed it out (at least that's what it seemed like). In fact, when he was about a year and a half old, right after he finished his championship, I shaved him down to the skin (except for the topknot, ears, and tail pom), hoping that as the coat grew back, it would be the correct adult coat.

At least with his current coat, we can comb it out much quicker.

Time will tell whether he's as late in shedding his puppy coat as he has been in maturing enough to pay attention in the obedience or rally ring. It's been worth the wait for brains, though, with multiple perfect scores in rally and a tied score for high in trial (199.5) in obedience, which we lost in the heeling pattern run-off--the other dog was clearly better, so no bad feelings.

Since I wanted a good performance dog, I'll forgive him for shedding.

 

[mvhplank]

Think about it though. Most doodle owners have been misinformed by the " non shedding " " rare color "
"Australian breeding " type stuff they read and don't realize that even if they are blessed Enough to get a doodle that it's 4 th generation and takes more strongly after poodle coat, I have never seen a single one that didn't have combo hair that if didn't shed onto floor, it matted to in coat.
That being said technically poodle have a combination of hair/ fur with the long growing cycle. I am surprised at the amount of hair I still get out of vogue at almost 2 years old. But her coat technically is not as coarse where it's never been clipped vs her old conti pattern.

The whole "hypoallergenic" thing is also taken as gospel way too often. If allergy is a serious concern, you must be tested against the individual dog. Some people may not be safe around some poodles.