Goldendoodles have recently come to be one of the most popular mixed breeds for family companions. These loving pets generally have very sweet temperaments and are of stocky build.
The coat of a Goldendoodle can be very different from dog to dog as mixing the curly coat of the Poodle with the double coat of a Golden Retriever can present many different textures of coat. A double coated dog has just that, a double coat, one of which is the outer layer called “Guard Hairs”. Guard Hairs serve to repel water and protect from brush and debris. This outer coat is the coat that is visible. It can be soft, slightly wavy to curly and smooth to the touch. The “Undercoat” is a layer of woolly coat that is next to the skin and much shorter in length than the outer Guard Coat. The Undercoat helps to regulate body temperature and protects the skin from sunlight and also helps to regulate body temperature. Guard Hair will shed out year round on most dogs with a double coat. Undercoat sheds out with the change of the seasons. Undercoats can also release do to stress, illness or change of environmental temperature.
Dogs with slick wavy or straight Guard Hair will shed off the released Undercoat quite easily as the Guard Hair is somewhat slick and straight to wavy. However, it is good practice to frequently groom dogs with Double Coats in order to keep shedding to a minimum. This will help reduce the amount of coat falling out in living areas, keeping skin healthy and early detection of potentially serious skin abnormalities.
Challenges can be presented when combined with a Double Coat and a Curly Coat such as is typical in Poodles. The Poodles are not Double-Coated dogs. They have been bred to be “low shedding”. Poodles do have a minimal amount of coat that will release from the follicle and get caught in the spiral hair. Matting will occur if coats are not kept to a manageable length or brushed and combed out using special tools and techniques to keep matts from forming. If one were to compare the amount of shedding a Poodle naturally does to the shedding an Undercoated breed sheds, the undercoated breed would demonstrate a much increased amount of shedding. This presents a special issue as the profuse shedding of the undercoat of a Double Coated breed will have increased difficulty naturally dropping through the spiral outer coat of the poodle-type coat. The shedding undercoat gets caught in the outer coat resulting in matting. For this reason it’s very important that Goldendoodles are groomed professionally on a very regular basis.
If one is to give a GoldenDoodle a bath, one must brush and comb EVERY tangle out before the coat is wet down. This is done with special brushes and followed with a metal comb. Special techniques are also employed to make sure the coat is completely tangle-free before getting wet. Not brushing and combing every tangle out before bathing causes the coat to bind and shrink making it virtually impossible to be free of loose undercoat and tangles when dried. If the process of bathing without proper brushing is repeated each time the coat binds and shrinks, causing pain to the dog from the coat pulling on the skin due to shrinkage. In extreme cases the skin can lose circulation in areas and even become bruised. Matted coat can be extremely uncomfortable to dogs.
Matts at the base of ears, for example, can cut off circulation to a point that when the ear is shaved and blood rushes back to the area, it feels strange to the dog and may cause the dog to shake his/her head. If this happens increased blood flow may cause blood to get caught in the tips forming a “pillow” causing a hematoma which can lead to needed surgical repair.
Goldendoodles are a relatively high maintenance breed when it comes to grooming. Breeders should always be sure to convey this to potential puppy buyers when placing the mix breed dog into its loving home.
