Cavapoo Grooming Guide: How to Properly Groom a Cavapoo

Dog grooming at home comes with its own set of opportunities and challenges. It’s great for dog parents and pups who have some social or separation anxiety. It’s also a good choice for new dogs out of the shelter or recently rescued who may react aggressively or freeze out of fear. Grooming at home also allows owners to spend a little more time with their pups and invest more energy into taking care of their best friend.

Cavapoos are a designer dog breed with a heart-melting appearance and unique grooming needs. If you have a cavapoo, keep reading for tips and step-by-step instructions on how to groom a cavapoo.

Cavapoo Summary

Crossing a Cavalier King Charles spaniel and a poodle will land you with a cavapoo. These pups grow between 15 and 30 pounds at full maturity, so they’re relatively small dogs. Cavapoos love their families and remain great companions and protectors to young children. Breed individuals vary by ancestry, lifestyle, and needs, but cavapoos aren’t normally loud barkers, nor do they need a ton of exercise.

Also known as a “teddy bear puppy,” the signature tawny coloring of a cavapoo and its wavy hair ensure it looks like a snuggle-able, fluffy ball of love.

Does A Cavapoo Have Hair or Fur?

Depending on the cavapoo’s genetics, they may have hair or fur. 

Because cavapoos come from a cross between a poodle, which has hair, and a Cavalier King Charles spaniel, which has fur, cavapoo coats will vary from litter to litter. Cavapoos may also have a third type of coat: a fleece coat.

While a hair, wool, or fleece coat on a cavapoo will require a different hand by the groomer, it’s pretty standard for every cavapoo to have a double coat. That means that the undercoat retains a soft, downy feel while the outer coat or “guard hair” has a rougher, more coarse feel to it. 

Can You Groom a Cavapoo at Home?

You can groom a cavapoo at home. Remember that grooming doesn’t only mean a haircut — it means consistently brushing your dog’s coat, cutting their nails, and cleaning their paws among other activities.

Dr. Sabrina Kong of WeLoveDoodles agrees. “You can go ahead and groom a Cavapoo at home, but following some guidelines is essential. First, brushing is crucial. Cavapoos should be brushed twice a week, if not daily, to prevent mats and tangles. Use a good-quality brush that reaches the undercoat. When it comes to bathing, use a dog-specific shampoo, and be sure to thoroughly rinse out all the soap to avoid skin irritation,” she instructs cavapoo parents.

Grooming a cavapoo at home is easiest to do with a slicker brush to detangle knots in their coats. If you know your cavapoo’s spaniel side is more dominant, you may also want to invest in a de-shedder brush that will rake the loose hairs out of your dog’s undercoat to avoid matting.

What You Need to Groom a Cavapoo at Home

When setting up a grooming station at home, you’ll want to have the right equipment to groom your cavapoo correctly and efficiently. Those supplies include:

• A tub or shower stall.
• A slicker brush. 
• A pin brush.
• A de-shedding brush or tool.
• Dog-safe shampoo.
• A steel comb.
• Nail clippers.
• Tear stain solution.
• Thinning shears.
• Dog clippers.
• Standard dog scissors.

Depending on your cavapoo’s coat length and density, you may need only a fraction of these tools. You can ask your vet or a trusted dog grooming expert which tools will best suit your dog’s coat before you buy a kit.

Common Cavapoo Cuts

A handful of common haircut styles exist among cavapoo owners. They include:

• The teddy bear cut. By and large, this remains the most common look for adult cavapoos, especially those with a tan or light brown coat.
• The puppy cut. Based on simplicity, the puppy cut lends itself to younger dogs that have trouble staying still for a long time. The puppy cut simply means trimming a cavapoo’s hair the same length all over its body. 
• The summer cut. Similar to the puppy cut, the summer cut keeps cavapoos’ coats pretty short in the summer months to decrease the risk of matting, tangles, and overheating. 

8 Steps to Groom a Cavapo

When you groom your cavapoo at home, make sure they’re comfortable. It’s okay to stop when the haircut or grooming session becomes too much for them. You can practice acquainting your cavapoo with the sounds and sensations of scissors, clippers, and brushes before you groom them to decrease their stress or anxiety. Make sure to use positive reinforcement and lots of treats. 

1. Brush

Before you get your cavapoo in the bath, brush them thoroughly to rid the coat of any tangles or mats. These become difficult to solve after becoming wet and sometimes end up getting snipped instead. Brushing before their bath also gets loose or larger pieces of debris (like sticks or leaves) out of a cavapoo’s coat. 

Finally, brushing before (and after) a bath helps to reduce the risk of frizzing. 

2. Bathe

Using a dog-safe gentle shampoo, bathe your dog in warm water. Massage the shampoo into their coat and skin, but make sure you thoroughly rinse their coat of suds. If you don’t, the shampoo could dry on their skin and cause irritation. The temperature of your bath water should be warm and comforting — not too hot that it causes discomfort, nor too cold that it will make your cavapoo shiver.

3. Brush Again

Once you towel off your cavapoo, use the bristle side of your brush to work through any lingering tangles. Then, use the pin brush to smooth out the fur and help your cavapoo’s coat shed loose hair and dead skin cells brought to the surface of their coat by the bath.

Don’t put away your brushes yet — you’ll want them throughout the grooming session. 

4. Trim at the Head

Avoid using clippers on your cavapoo’s head and instead, opt for shears. These rounded scissors made for dog coats allow you to move around the head unencumbered. It also doesn’t have a sound or vibrating sensation, unlike clippers, which can unnerve your dog so close to their eyes, ears, and nose.

Start trimming your cavapoo’s head at their crown and move down toward the neck. Aim to keep your cavapoo’s hair around a quarter inch in length. When you work around their nose and eyes, pinch the hair on the bridge of your cavapoo’s nose and cut upwards.

Bring out the brush again to keep the hair on your cavapoo’s muzzle and cheeks growing the same way. However, don’t feel the need to include their whiskers. Finally, trim the base of your cavapoo’s ears being extra careful to not snip the skin on the inside of their ears.

5. Clipper the Body 

After the head and neck are done, move onto the body with clippers. Puppy and summer cuts will require you to take more off with clippers than the teddy bear cut will.

Section your cavapoo’s body into coat segments you’ll tackle one by one. When trimming with the clippers, travel downwards in a straight line. This will help you and act as a guide to take off the same amount of fur in each line you perform. 

Move from the top of your cavapoo’s back to its sides and legs, belly, and tail. 

6. Brush as You Go

As you trim and clip both your cavapoo’s face and body, run a brush through to get loose hair out of its coat. If tangles occur, it’s better to brush them out than to get them caught in the clippers. Brushing also helps set the hair in the same direction, which allows you to identify any spots you cut too high or too low compared to the sessions around it. 

7. Wipe Away Tear Stains

Even the happiest dogs get tear stains! Afflicting only light-colored dogs with eye discharge, the tear stains on cavapoos are pretty easy to wipe away. Because the eye discharge is iron-rich, it stains lighter fur a darker color which owners need a boric acid solution to get out. 

Similar in ingredients to contact lens cleaners, tear stain remover solutions are safe to use on cavapoo fur twice a day. Owners should wipe the tear stain spots until they’re gone — and keep up with this daily routine to prevent deep-set stains from appearing again. 

8. Check the Paws

While you may have already peeked at your puppy’s paw health during the body cut, take another look at the end of your grooming session. If they look dry or cracked, you can use a dog-safe moisturizer like oatmeal paw butter to rehydrate the skin. This not only provides some relief and comfort; it keeps your cavapoo’s paws healthy.

At-Home Cavapoo Cuteness 

Cavapoos delight their families with an array of sweet, mild-mannered personality traits. Their adorable appearance and deep loyalty to their owners make their companionship a highly-sought-after treasure. Grooming your cavapoo at home takes a steady hand and the right equipment — but once you have that, your cavapoo will appreciate your patience and attention to detail to keep their coat beautiful.

The photo featured at the top of this post is © David Calvert/Shutterstock.com