The Spring Grooming Adventure

Well, we have officially made it through our first spring grooming. I am so excited that it wasn't a complete disaster! It's not my first rodeo with hair cutting. One to two times a month all the men folk in my home line up in my kitchen and I cut all their hair. Our boys are all still young and have no particular hair style requirements for their Queen Mama. So not too much stress involved there. However, my years of experience with male hair cuts did not quite prepare me for the spring grooming adventure with our goldendoodle girls.

First, their fur was really out of control. I will not let their fur grow out that long again! #liveandlearn We started out by rough cutting their fur with a grooming scissors. Kinni, our mini goldendoodle, is all about personal grooming. She is a firm believer in doggy spa days! So we started with her because she just lays there and will take any and all attention given. Look at our sweetheart with her daddy. The Hard Man is such a good man. She was very reassured before the grooming process started.

Nicki, on the other hand, could care less about personal grooming and just wants to play. But, when desperate times call for desperate measures, doggy treats come in really handy! She did a pretty good job sitting still.

I was very surprised to learn how different Kinni and Nicki's fur is. They both have very curly fur. But Kinni's fur is just dense. I don't know how else to describe it. Nicki's fur is a bit thinner and doesn't matte AT ALL! #itsamiracle. Just a disclaimer: Goldendoodle fur is not completely maintenance free. They shed very little, if at all, but you MUST comb them and groom them occasionally. FYI. #bubblebuster #yourwelcome

Wow! There's our little mini goldendoodle again! She looked so big before, but it was all fur! The picture above is our sweet pea Kinni after her bath, which was the next step in our grooming process. After we did the rough cut (holy buckets of goldendoodle fur!), we bathed both the girls. We have a very sophisticated bath tub for our girls. A very special...tub from Menards! It fits the girls just perfectly. Kinni loves her baths. She has ever since she was a puppy. Nicki, not so much. Which is funny because she definitely has more retriever tendencies. You'd think she'd love the water just as much as she loves fetching, but no. She'd rather not be wet thanks. But TOO BAD! You need a bath lady!

Kinnickinnic Goldendoodle Bathing Spigot

We do have an amazing outdoor water spigot at our house. I had never seen one with the option for hot water before, but if you can install one, it is amazing! We can have cold-hot water outside! Maybe this isn't a novelty to the rest of you, but we've never had this on a home before. It makes outdoor bathing of dogs and boys so easy! That's right. Those boys get themselves covered in dirt and mud and they know they are getting hosed off outside! And that fact does not really deter them from getting filthy at times ... #everyday! So whether it's our dogs, or the boys needing a bath, we have nice, warm water. It's the little things in life right?! #definitely #yestothat

The third and final step in this 3-day ordeal was to brush the girls out really well after their initial cut and bath and then do another touch up trim. Kinni allows me to use our electric pet clippers to do this final step. Nicki is a huge wuss and is deathly scared of the "shears of death". So I just use the scissors again and touch her up better than the first go around. I'd say they turned out pretty good for my first try at this puppy grooming thing!

P.S. No judging the tee shirt, shorts & bare feet with snow in the back ground! I promise it was a beautiful spring day, and we had very mild temperatures. #heatwave

A few of the tools we use on a daily and weekly basis:

This amazing pet brush! It works so well if you have a pet with really long, curly or dense fur! Find it at Amazon here.

I also LOVE this shampoo for our goldendoodles. It smells good, helps with fleas and ticks and doesn't dry out their skin! AMAZING! You can find it at Chewy.com here.

Finding the right tools for your pet will make your life so much easier! And your pet will love you all the more for your efforts.

All, in all, I think it was a successful first spring grooming adventure. Our girls seem quite pleased with their new doos. Look at that smile! What a sweet heart!