Cockapoo - puppies

Hi there,

I am a proud owner of a 8 week old cockapoo that I am due to be bringing home at the end of the month and I was just hoping that some people might have some hints and tips of training and grooming?! I would also love to see some photos of peoples dog!!

Welcome to the forum. We have a groom-free breed (whippets) so unfortunately no real advice here on that front. Coats can vary so much from one to the other in this breed, The one thing I would suggest is getting him or her used to being groomed (brush/comb) right from the beginning. It will make proper grooming easier later.

What kind of thing should I be doing to help with the grooming? I have been told that get her used to having her teeth checked, her ears looked at, her paws held but is there anything else?

Any advice is very welcome!!

Again, I don't have a breed that really needs grooming, but I would say get a soft bristle brush and get her used to the feeling of going over her with it. Touch her toes and feet in a gentle way so that she gets used to them being handled. Will you be trimming her toenails, or getting them done professionally. I gave a short lesson in toenail trimming with my last litter.

If you plan to do it the best advice I can give is use the scissor style cutters not the guillotine style ones. The guillotine ones just cut from the top down and squeeze the quick which is painful.

Hopefully someone with a more coated breed than I will reply.

Hi

I don't have a curly coated breed, but Molly is a fully coated long haired German Shepherd, so I've spent more than my fair share of time holding a slicker and then trying to get the hair off me afterwards!

My advice would be:

1) slowly slowly, gently and fun. If you make grooming a big scary thing now, it will come back in nasty ways later on.

2) get some good treats, cut them up into tiny pieces and start off just by holding a treat in a way that your pup can smell and will pay attention to, and then use that to hold his attention while you gently stroke all over him. Get him used to being touched on his tail, feet, ears and undercarriage, with just your hand initially.

3) while you're teaching him all of the basic skills, remember that holding up a paw, lying down and rolling onto his back have very practical applications when it comes to grooming

4) get him used to having his ears handled, lifted up and looked down.

5) use a soft toothbrush initially to start combing his face. They have very few sharp corners and won't harm his mouth when he starts chewing them (as he inevitably will!).

6) get a cat slicker brush to start with. They're smaller to be less cumbersome when combing a pup and they tend to have bobbles on the end of the teeth to stop them from scratching his skin.

7) make grooming a small part of every day so that it's a perfectly normal part of his routine.

8 ) as soon as you get him, if you're not going to do all of his grooming needs yourself, book him into a good groomer just to go and meet them, have a fuss and start getting experiences. Making sure that your puppy is happy at the groomers will be a very important thing later on

Great! thank you for all your information