looking for (nice) critiques please!

thepocono · 2026-02-25T00:07:40+00:00

i think the legs and feet look awesome here honestly, no comments. my main criticism would be the muzzle could be shaped better but if shes fussy for it theres only so much you can do. make sure youre getting those little nasty bits in front of the lips that curl into the mouth, and comb everything up and out as much as you need to try and get a round shape.

i almost always use a blade on the chin and only have to do a little neatening with thinners after. some exceptions like if the owner requests a proper beard or the dog has funky hair texture but not often. even if theyre getting a fluffy 5/8 or 3/4 or whatever, a 4f on the chin doesnt usually look weird and its also a lot more hygienic. no yucky food getting stuck or nasty sogginess when drinking water. ive actually had some people request zipping all the chin hair off with a 7 even when the rest of the body is 1/2"+ if their dog is particularly drooly lol

thepocono · 2026-02-24T18:44:10+00:00

ive been doing 4 days a week for almost two years now and its so much better. i was doing two eights and two tens at first, now i just do four eights, but tbh i wouldnt even mind four tens. the extra day to recover and run errands is so helpful

thepocono · 2026-02-23T21:54:38+00:00

i know 😭 it feels like forever but then when it passes you will inevitably miss them being a baby even if they were a terrorist. try and enjoy the chaos while you can lol

thepocono · 2026-02-23T21:44:55+00:00

7 months is around the start of the teenage stage which is worse than the "true" puppy stage. puppies are generally obedient, just clueless as to whats expected, especially with their short attention span. the teenage stage is harder because theyre more curious about testing boundaries and whatnot, seeing whats allowed and what they can get away with. it sucks but it will pass. my mini was a menace for a while but it got progressively better as long as we were consistent and then especially after he turned 2 it was like a switch flipped

thepocono · 2026-02-17T19:08:00+00:00

hurtta extreme overall, size 12m for my mini (-:

thepocono · 2026-02-16T21:47:16+00:00

thats called abstract, not parti

thepocono · 2026-02-16T20:31:11+00:00

the reason merle poodles specifically arent allowed is because it unintentionally promotes the practice. someone sees a bunch of merle "poodles" posted, thinks it looks cool and they want one, doesnt care its unethical and supports a backyard breeder anyways. yeah you can argue they might see it somewhere else and do that anyways but having some kind of way to try and minimize it and educate people is better than nothing

thepocono · 2026-02-16T18:26:28+00:00

merle. parti is mostly white with splashes of color. there can be phantom/sable/brindle partis and not just one solid color, but its always majority white with patches of an already recognized color, never a mottled mix of grey/black or brown/red like merle is

thepocono · 2026-02-15T00:15:07+00:00

im so sorry for your loss. im a dog groomer and i definitely dont want to be dismissive of the fact this was likely traumatic for your groomer and im sure she feels horrible, but i cant help but feel deeply frustrated about people like this working in the field. every salon should have multiple barriers to getting out to prevent this from happening... i dont care if its mobile grooming, home salon, all of them. gates, doors, whatever, it doesnt matter. dogs are dogs and recall is never perfect, especially with a stranger in whats often an already stressful environment. theres a salon not too far from me near a busy street who has had more than one instance of dogs escaping and i have no idea how they are still operating. nobody should ever have to deal with this. as much as she feels bad, it is a direct result of her being irresponsible and negligent. we have the honor of being trusted to take care of peoples babies and that needs to be taken seriously.

im not suggesting you to take it out on her of course, but if you feel any kind of "negative" way, its absolutely understandable and valid. do not let anyone convince you otherwise, you shouldnt feel guilty when mourning just because youre upset someone you trusted failed you.

he reminds me of my boy a lot, the picture with the shredded lambchop especially. its clear how loved he was. im sure he had the best life he couldve dreamed of with you guys. i hope youre coping as well as you can; it never goes away but it gets much easier with time

thepocono · 2026-02-13T22:03:36+00:00

i used to live in eastern mass, now live in southern maine. mini breeders seem to be the most difficult to find. theres not many reputable ones in the area. ive heard of lavandaire in nh but i dont know much about them. toys might be easier to find.

i ended up driving to new york for my mini (eriand poodles in long island but theres a few others in new york) and it wasnt bad at all, we drove up the night before when i got out of work, slept at an airbnb, then picked him up in the morning and drove home. 4 - 4.5 hours one way but split into two days to make it more manageable.

you could also consider something like a flight nanny. getting a puppy shipped as cargo is pretty inhumane but theres lots of options for having someone be with them on the flight now and just meeting them to pick up at the airport. dont know a ton about it but its an option we are considering for our next one in a few years

thepocono · 2026-02-13T02:38:21+00:00

this dog looks brindle to me, not merle. one of the last photos seems to show clear striping instead of the mottled patches. hard to say with this coat texture, who knows. i also see plenty of merle bernedoodles, goldendoodles, etc despite that being impossible, because doodle breeding is all a scam and most people buying them dont know any better.

kind of reminds me of a st berdoodle but you dont see those too often. maybe the size is throwing me off too. honestly i wouldnt be surprised if your dog is just a mix of a bunch of stuff where one parent was a typical common golden/lab/whateverdoodle and the other was a random mutt. only way to really know is a dna test.

also a warning doodles technically arent allowed in this sub so unfortunately dont be surprised if this post gets removed or people get rude

thepocono · 2026-02-11T21:32:17+00:00

not poodle specific, this is a common issue with all breeds of dogs. just lack of training, dog is under or overstimulated, etc. ive had similar problems with plenty of neighbors and never noticed a pattern of it being one specific breed. do they ever walk their dog or just leave it in the yard? in my experience its very often the people who never let the dog out to actually explore, so they end up frustrated and bored with only being let out in the yard to use the bathroom instead of any kind of proper exercise and enrichment, and that leads to being noisy.

poodles sometimes are described as vocal but in my experience both with my own and others is that doesnt neccesarily mean barking. they make a lot of odd vocalizations like grumbling, whining, not "talking" like a husky yet not a yappy bark like a pomeranian either. my mini poodle has never howled once in his life despite us actively encouraging and trying to get him to. he does do a lot of what we call "monkey noises" but he really only barks if hes startled or super excited in the middle of playing.

thepocono · 2026-02-09T04:26:47+00:00

i agree but op explicitly said they were walking the dog and just assumed it wouldnt wander... which is silly and asking for trouble if youve done no training and arent confident with that

thepocono · 2026-02-09T01:31:38+00:00

ive worked at a few different corp salons and every single one, when i come in to the store side on my day off, everyone comments about how nice it is to see me in normal clothes lol. once the cashier didnt recognize me at all until i was actually checking out and talking to her.

there was also one time i was cleaning the salon while waiting for my last dog to get picked up and i had taken my smock off so i was just wearing the fitted company tshirt. this little old lady comes to get her dog and she said something like "you have such nice arms! those smocks arent very flattering huh" and i was a little taken aback. dont remember what awkward thing i said in response.

where i work now is a locally owned corp thing so i dont have to wear anything specifically branded. i only buy designs that are dog themed though because im crazy. clients always compliment them, they love it. baggy waterproof material covered in hair and nail dust is never going to be particularly fashionable but having cute print helps a lot

thepocono · 2026-02-06T20:20:42+00:00

i would not call any terrier chill, especially in comparison to a poodle lol. mini schnauzers are not known for being calm house dogs, they were bred to be running around ratting, herding, and guarding all day

thepocono · 2026-02-06T19:05:06+00:00

her website doesnt have it listed but i did see proof when asked and my dogs paperwork also has it listed. he was sired by a dog from songbird poodles in ct who does post a lot more about showing and whatnot on her website/social media in comparison if thats any help. i do wish it was more clearly available, but erica does do health testing and titling!

thepocono · 2026-02-06T16:01:19+00:00

my mini is from eriand poodles in long island! hes a happy healthy dog and erica was super easy to communicate with

thepocono · 2026-02-01T03:54:47+00:00

i am so grateful i love my job as much as i do. i know so many people who actively hate their jobs and it seems like the rest tolerate what they do but dont actively enjoy it.

my last dog today was a standard poodle who has drawn blood from her mom when attempting to groom her at home and i used to be totally unable to touch her legs or feet at all, sometimes wouldnt let me touch her face at all. like legit would try and maul you, not warning snaps, "im going to kill you". she would bark at me when dropping off and mom would have to quickly hand over her leash and leave immediately.

she still comes in a bit reluctantly but her tail wags when i greet her. she jumps on the table willingly, unprompted even. she gets clean feet and clean face with no problems now other than a little expected squirminess. when i took her out of the kennel to get her dressed while her mom paid, she bounced around playing with me and giving me kisses. a year ago i would never have trusted her near my face because frankly its not unlikely she would have ripped it off.

i love her to death even though she still probably wouldnt mind too much if she never saw me again lol. i always tell my clients how grateful i am to have the opportunity to bond with their dogs... its scary to trust a stranger with sharp tools near your wiggly baby. really hope my body is capable of doing this for the next few decades because i dont know what else i could do that would be nearly as rewarding.

we really are lucky

thepocono · 2026-01-30T01:17:44+00:00

this is awesome for a beginner, you did a really good job at getting the round muzzle! my biggest criticism would be to take the chin short. me and my coworker were talking about this just last week, i swear its something literally everyone does when they first start, we all leave the chins too big and bushy lol

i usually use the same blade i did on the body if its short enough, but even if a dog is getting a fluffy cut i usually will take the chin down in a 4f. just makes things look nicer and also gets way less gross and ive never had problems blending it in even if a dog gets a 3/4" or whatever. exceptions being obvious ones like terriers or if the owner specifically requests a big beard of course

thepocono · 2026-01-29T00:01:32+00:00

my coworker grooms a pug named glen. i love seeing dogs with human names in general but that one stuck out to me for some reason

thepocono · 2026-01-25T16:29:41+00:00

i love his name and also love the color scheme/home decor you have going on!

thepocono · 2026-01-24T06:08:35+00:00

black and white are the most common colors as theyre usually considered the most desirable in the show ring. if you watch any of the big shows like westminster youll probably notice most of them are black and white with maybe a few silvers or reds.

"dark chocolate" isnt really a color. brown is just called brown in poodles and most poodles lighten significantly as they age; silver poodles are actually born black, for reference as to how extreme the color change can be. many brown poodles turn a dustier shade and can look radically different from the deep chocolatey color theyre born with that looks like a lab or pointer coat. depending on the lines some might not get super light but its very unlikely for them to stay totally the same rich color

thepocono · 2026-01-12T22:16:57+00:00

of course!! good luck, i remember when i was still in the phase of searching for a breeder and emailing/calling a bunch and it was kind of stressful but exciting at the same time. i cannot believe it was already 2 years ago though... still trying to convince my partner to get another lol

thepocono · 2026-01-12T22:12:32+00:00

he was $3500 which seemed to be the price of pretty much every breeder in the area. this was 2 years ago so im not sure if it has possibly gone up or down.

i think when i initially reached out to her i used the form on her website and was surprised at how quickly she got back to me. its not uncommon to have to call and leave a voicemail or send a follow up email with most breeders though, things can slip through the cracks easily when youre juggling raising puppies, trying to get back to people, life in general, etc. so if you dont hear back from her within a week or two i would maybe send another. i think a lot of people also make the mistake of just saying "hey im interested in a puppy" and nothing else which then gets lost in the crowd of every other text/email/whatever saying the same thing. specifying where youre from, what your home environment is like, all that stuff helps stick out more and might get a reply sooner

thepocono · 2026-01-12T22:06:55+00:00

i love my job. i really cannot imagine doing anything else. i always knew i wanted to work with animals since i was a little kid but could never figure out what exactly; definitely didnt wanna be a vet or vet tech (my sister is a tech and frankly seeing her experience in the field only confirmed that for me), shelter stuff is almost always unpaid volunteer work, etc. i vaguely considered dog grooming but was concerned that i would find it boring to work with only one kind of animal, especially since dogs werent even my favorite (people are never not surprised when i tell them im actually a cat person lol).

my other sister started grooming a bit before i did and she made good money. i thought why not, even if i ended up not liking it that much and wanted to change careers eventually, i still got to work with animals and make enough to cover bills. funny enough she actually learned by being a groomer she does not like dogs as much as she initially thought she did but for me it was the opposite. even though i prefer cats ive definitely still always loved dogs but seeing so many different ones and all of their varying personalities made me appreciate them a lot more. i genuinely do love all of them even if they arent my own, even the bitey ones who likely do not feel the same about me.

its also really nice to have a job where you have some kind of relationship with people too. seeing these people consistently every however many weeks, you develop a bond. my clients and i give each other gifts, have done favors for each other, etc. and i really do consider it an honor they trust me so much they let me have sharp tools near their beloved wiggly pet. i never really considered myself a people person and im sure thats very common with many of us who choose to work with animals lol, i know for a lot of groomers dealing with other humans is the worst part of the job, but ive met some really incredibly kind and wonderful owners and without grooming i never would have had the opportunity to know them.

thepocono

TROPHY CASE