One of the most expensive things about owning poodles is keeping them well groomed. If you learn to do this yourself, you'll develop a better relationship with your pet, and you'll save a lot of money in the long run. Grooming poodles might seem hard, but it's actually a task that just about anyone can learn to do. You just need patience and the willingness to practice your skills.

When you are looking into grooming standard poodles, you will find that the process will generally take around three hours once you have had some experience. When you are just getting started, you may find that you need to spread the grooming out over several days, to give you and your dog a bit of rest. After a few sessions, you'll get the hang of it, but if the time commitment isn't really for you, you'll find that you can get a dog groomer to do it for you.

When considering grooming poodles, you'll find that you should think about what kind of trim that you prefer. Your poodle's coat can be shaped into a number of different looks, all of them attractive, but remember that the longer and more shaped that your dog's coat needs to be, the more maintenance that it will need. Similarly, if your dog is a show dog, you'll also find that you need to have some sort of variation on the lion cut, which does require a fair amount of upkeep.

When you are looking at the lion cut, you'll find that there are three different variations on it. These variations will include the continental style, the English saddle style and the puppy cut. All three of these styles will involve longer fur in the areas of the chest and legs, and this can give the poodle the distinctive poodle cut that you might easily recognize. For dogs who were originally bred to be swimmers, it is worth noticing that this cut, with it's extra shaped fur around the chest and the legs, could keep the chest warmer and the protect the joints in cold water.

If you are not going to show your dog, you'll find that you have quite a few more options when it comes to making sure that your dog looks tidy. You can do an all-around short trim, which is ideal when you are considering how to make a good grooming job last, but if you are looking for something more flashy, consider looking at pictures online and in books to get some ideas.

When you are considering grooming poodles, you'll find that clipping the fur on the feet, face and the bottom of the tail very short for hygienic reasons, because it will allow for less food to get trapped there. You'll find that when you clip the that things don't get trapped between their toes, and you'll also find that the shorter the coat is, the easier it is to cut and dry. Remember to wash your poodle before you groom it to keep your tools in good shape, and the better the equipment you get the better off you'll be.