What is a teddy bear clip on a poodle.

What is a Teddy Bear Poodle clip?

How do I tell my groomer what I want?

Bring a picture of a poodle in a teddy bear clip with you to your groom. I suggest you interview several groomers and ask if they are expert on hand fluff drying and hand scissoring.

The TB clip requires that the dogs head and legs be hand scissor symmetrically.

After bathing and hand fluff drying to get all the curl out of the hair. The head should be hand scissor round. Equal in lengthen all the way around. For instance the length on the top of the head should be the same as under the jaw and on the sides of the face, a well balanced look.

The back can be taken down with a long blade (depending on how long you want the body), comb or hand scissor, dropping off at the shoulder and hip, leaving the shoulders and hips to be scissor blended into the legs. The legs should be scissor, leaving the hair equal in length all the way around. Under the feet, between the eyes, around the rectum, and the belly should be shaved with a # 10 or #30 blade. For the back a long blade like#3 or #4 will leave the hair just shy of ½ inch. A blade with a long comb on it can leave the hair ½ “to 1 “.

Proper fluff drying to stretch the hair straight is very important. If you don’t do this to curly poodle hair will be very uneven and look terrible in a few days when the coat that was left curly relaxes.

Hand straightening the coat will ensure that the hair is cut evenly.

The ears can be bobbed off if you like the look. This will help keep the ears from getting into the food or water when they eat and drink.

Any hand scissor clip is tedious and requires that your dog is well behaved and will stand still. A scissor teddy bear clip also requires that your dog’s hair is not matted or tangled when you bring it in to the groomer. Some groomers are good at de-matting the coat and some will just shave it all off. De-matting usually cost you extra. Work with your dog at home making them stand to get brushed. Don’t lay them on your lap or on the ground. It is also helpful to brush your dog up on a table. Touch your dog’s feet so they are used to having their feet touched. Also practice holding your dogs head still by lightly holding on to the bottom whiskers.  Weekly or bi weekly brushing is usually required to keep their coat from getting tangled.

Take your dog in for regular grooming. Once a groomer has a pattern set it is a lot easier to keep it maintained. Waiting until your dogs hair is 2-3 inches long will require a lot of extra work in both drying and scissoring the dog. Poodle hair grows about 1/2” a month and should be groomed at least every 8-10 weeks. This should be considered it you are interested in purchasing a poodle puppy.

Cathy Adamson

Owner: Lil Poodles