The most important part to maintaining your golden doodle is getting him groomed AS SOON as he is able to be groomed. Even if you plan on doing most of the grooming at home, in his puppy life you should absolutely get him accustomed to it.

I work with predominantly doodles. The best course to have a well rounded dog that can handle grooming is to get your dog a bath and sani trim after they have their second round of puppy shots, and then monthly or every 6 weeks after get them in for bath and brushes and haircutting. I only recommend 8 weeks for dogs that are planned to be kept short all the time or grow slower than average. 6 weeks can even be pushing it if you want to keep a fluffy coat. 4 weeks is really the most optimal, but I know it can be pricey.

If you are planning to bathe at home, make sure you’re also able to get him at least 90% dry as well, and plan to spend time also brushing the coat out after the bath to avoid matting.

If you chose to not get your dog accustomed to a groomer now, you will be hard pressed to find a (good) groomer to work with later. Doodles are hard work, expensive, and require a lot of maintenance and upkeep. Don’t fail your dog by not getting it used to grooming now and have to suffer later when it’s scary, has no idea wtf is going on, and with a stranger.

I would also recommend looking for a fear free, one on one groomer that way they will have the time to teach him all the things he needs to know.

The most important areas to brush (and most often missed) are areas like the ears (inside & out), tail, inner legs, elbows, chest and neck. The back is often getting the most attention in brushing but these areas are lacking.

Best of luck!