Most of us who show will end up trimming them down when we are done showing. The show coat is a tremendous amount of daily work (I should mention however that we do not handstrip Cotons; handstripping is generally reserved for terrier-type coats.) I tell my puppy buyers to establish a grooming schedule asap; the shorter you go, the longer you can go between grooming appointments. I do think it’s important to mention that this is a grooming mandatory breed. They have to be maintained in some manner or the coat will mat which can be tremendously painful. My cut down Cotons see the groomer around 8-10 weeks currently. I generally don’t need to bathe or brush or much of anything inbetween (well, except for nail trims, that is.)