At around 9-12 months old the you will notice that your baby puppy is starting to get tangles!! What is going on? Well basically they loose their puppy coat and the adult coat comes in. It will start with one tangle or mat and then the next day 2 or 3 and it seems it multiplies everyday. The tangles or mats are first noticed right under armpits or where ever there is a lot of movement. You can try to brush them out as you notice them with a tool like this but read on to see what we do.
THIS IS WHAT IS GOING ON
So what is happening is the puppy is going through the molt phase. That is when the adult hair starts growing in. Because they do not shed, they start to mat. (Don't worry your Australian labradoodle will still have a soft, amazing coat and be tangle free but they do go through this for about 3-6 months.)
What we suggest is to take them to the groomer as soon as those mats start coming. The tangles are just very hard to keep up with and if you don't get them out the mats will get so bad that they need to be shaved very closely to the skin to get the mats out. Getting shaved closely to the skin can cause damage to the hair follicles especially if shaved too close to skin. So do not delay! You want to get them to the groomer as soon as you observe the tangles coming. Have them cut to 1/2 inch all over (except for head and tails). We keep their bodies trimmed to 1/2 for a good year or until we think the molt is over. We leave the head long and floppy on top and we also leave the hair on tail long. Once the molt is over you are home free with a beautiful adult coat that you can grow out again if you wish to!
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