Everything You Need to Know About Coat Care for Your Australian Labradoodle

The Australian Labradoodle can have several different coats: fleece, curly fleece and curly. These 3 coats essentially need the same care, but the brushing frequency does differ.

How often should you brush an Australian Labradoodle?

That depends entirely on the coat type. Put simply: the curlier the coat, the more prone to matting it is. The colour of the coat also plays a part. As a rule, the lighter the coat, the more prone to matting it is.

• Fleece: easy to maintain, hardly mats at all.
• Curly fleece: slightly more intensive, but very manageable.
• Curly: needs a lot of attention, mats quickly.

During the coat change – a process that starts at around 8 months of age and sometimes lasts a whole year – brushing every 3 to 4 days may be necessary. After this period, at around two years of age, brushing once a week or every other week is often enough, provided you use the right technique and tools.

With puppies up to about six months, brushing is purely about getting them used to it, so use a soft puppy brush. At around 5 to 6 months you can replace it with, for example, the green Activet.

How often should you wash an Australian Labradoodle?

From a young age (as a pup) it is good to wash your Labradoodle every 2 to 3 weeks, purely to get used to the ritual.

During the coat change, regular washing is more important than ever. Every 2 weeks is recommended, because a clean coat mats far less quickly – provided you rinse thoroughly, use conditioner and blow the coat dry with a water blaster. After the coat change, less frequent washing is fine. But here too, a clean coat mats less quickly than a dirty one. And it smells wonderful as well.

How often a Labradoodle needs washing naturally also depends on its lifestyle and the length of its coat.

Common mistakes in coat care

1. Brushing only the top layer – matting starts at the skin.
2. Using the wrong products – avoid harsh agents.
3. Too little blowing and fanning with the blaster – this causes more matting rather than less.

Which products are best to use?

• A good brush and brushing technique.
• A natural shampoo.
• A nourishing coat spray.
• A good water blaster.

The Dry Shampoo & Conditioner Spray from Frenky Lewis is a natural spray with a lovely fragrance. An excellent coat spray and a good detangler.

Knots and mats: better to prevent than to cure

Prevention is better than cure. Brushing out severe mats is unpleasant for the dog and bad for the coat.

Does the season affect the coat?

No. Australian Labradoodles do lose hair, but not in the way other dogs shed. The Australian Labradoodle has one long coat change in its life, after which it loses a number of hairs every day, just as people do. These hairs stay behind in the coat and have to be blown and brushed out by us.

Nutrition & coat health

Healthy gut flora shows directly in the coat. Many doodles suffer from stomach and intestinal complaints.

Signs of insufficient care

Mats and debris in the coat are the clearest sign. Checking with the water blaster makes this plainly visible.

Tips for washing your Australian Labradoodle

• Always make sure the coat is tangle-free first. So blow the coat open, check for mats and remove twigs, grass and sand from the coat.
• Remove any mats.
• Use the right shampoo and conditioner (preferably a natural one, such as Frenky Lewis).
• Rinse thoroughly.
• Dry with a towel and a water blaster.

How often should you visit the groomer?

On average every 8 weeks. Some areas (sanitary, paws, ears, eyes) need touching up in between.

A settling-in session from 10 weeks and after that every 4 weeks as a wash-and-settle session. All of this to prevent stress during coat care. A grooming session soon takes 3 hours. You need to build this up gradually.

Have the coat trimmed at 6 months. Follow (online) courses, ask your groomer questions and trust professional advice. Together you'll get through the coat change.