Aussiedoodle grooming in Gloucester, MA

The two parent coats could hardly be further apart. The AKC describes the Australian Shepherd's as a waterproof, double-layer coat that sheds, needing an undercoat rake every two or three days in shedding season. It describes the Poodle's as a curly, relatively non-shedding coat that mats near the roots unless it is combed completely to the skin. An aussiedoodle can land anywhere between the two, so one dog's grooming can look nothing like another's.

Size varies as much as coat. A standard poodle parent weighs 40 to 70 pounds on the AKC's figures and a miniature 10 to 15, and some smaller aussiedoodles come from the Miniature American Shepherd, which the AKC puts at 20 to 40 pounds. That is why the same cross can sit in our small, medium or large band. The groomer reads the coat and the weight at check-in, not the label on the puppy paperwork.

The AKC's rhythm for a poodle kept in a pet trim is a professional groom every four to six weeks, and a curly or wavy aussiedoodle fits the same window. Inside it, the visit is a bath and a reshape. Past it, the first mats appear wherever something rubs: under the harness straps, behind the ears, in the armpits and between the back legs. Friction twists loose hair into the curl, and a wet walk tightens it.

Dematting is $15 per 20 minutes on top of the full-service price, so a coat that needs forty minutes of work under the straps costs $30 more before the haircut starts. The groomer shows you the knots at check-in and gives the estimate first. Where mats sit tight against the skin, combing them out hurts, and a shorter clip in that area is often the kinder trade. A straighter, Aussie-type coat may go longer between cuts but needs Shed Release, $10, in a shed.

The single biggest help is taking the harness off as soon as the walk is over, so the straps are not rubbing all evening. Then brush in sections, lifting the top layer and working from the skin out, as our how-to on brushing a doodle between grooms shows. A metal comb that slides through to the skin tells you the section is done; one that snags has found the start of a mat.

Cape Ann's off-season beaches are the other test. At the time of writing, Good Harbor Beach takes dogs off leash on even-numbered days from October 1 to March 31, and Rockport bans dogs from its public beaches from June 1 to September 15. After any salt-water swim, rinse the coat in fresh water and dry it fully; a curly coat left to dry damp, with sand in it, tightens into felt by morning.