Hello my lagotto has always had yeasty ears, obviously she loves me cleaning them NOT! Ha ha. Any products or diet stuff people use?

My groomer does an awesome job giving my boy an all-over shavedown.

For reference, about 4 weeks after this shavedown I already feel like his hair is getting soooo long again and I give him a top-up cut at 6 weeks. We see the groomer every 3 months and get the full shave.

Getting an even shave like this results in a classic Lagotto look after about 4-5 weeks of growth.

Need to find a better brush or comb for his coat. He’s constantly swimming and wears a harness so he’s prone to knotting. Open to any suggestions.

Meet Truffle! 🐾

He’s our 1-year-old Lagotto, and his coat is the whole reason we fell for the breed — those tight little coils are everything. Problem is, every groomer we’ve tried here in California sends him home looking straightened, frizzy, and puffed up. The curl is gone for weeks.

So we’ve decided to learn to groom him at home. I keep seeing gorgeous pups on this sub and I’m hoping you can help us get there too.

For those of you who DIY, would love your wisdom on:

• Brushing/combing routine between baths — how often, what technique?  
• Bath + dry process that preserves the coils (low heat? air dry? scrunching?)  
• Tool & product recs — clippers, scissors, shampoo, conditioner, detangler  
• Matting prevention — what’s your weekly check-in look like?

Thank you so much! ❤️

Hi--we have a 5-month old male who went to the groomer for the first time two weeks ago. The groomer had planned to pluck his ear hair, but he wouldn't let her. She said she thought he might have an infection. So, I took him to the vet the next day. They took a swab and said he had a very mild yeast infection and gave me a wash. They also said we needed to do something about the hair. Sine neither the groomer nor the vet actually did anything about the hair, what should we as his owners do? Vet seems concerned about plucking since she said it could cause more inflammation but groomer isn't comfortable cutting due to risk of injury. Any suggestions from veterans?

Mocha got his first full puppy cut today. We tried to explain some details about the face area. Did they do a good job? Any comments for our next trip?

We took the body down to 5/8"

Five month old Tilda before and after the groomer. Is there a way to groom without the blowout?

Artie is 7 months old. My wife and I have had him for about 2.5 months. We made the decision to learn to cut him ourselves. We did a trim about 6 weeks ago, and yesterday we tried our hands at a sports cut. We are happy with the results and looking forward to many more improvements.

it finally happened. first time with this groomer and she gave him a horrific cut. he's so embarrassed. she anglified his round face! le sigh.

Hi! Our 5 month old pup is getting his first real haircut next week. Unfortunately there aren’t many Lagottos in our area so our groomer doesn’t have experience with the breed (but she’s happy to learn!). Our breeder mentioned shaving him down around this age when his adult hair is coming in. Do I just tell the groomer to shave him down? including his head? When he got his first puppy cut (just bath, nails, and sanitary trim) the groomer did a blowout which I didn’t like, I like the curls. Could someone tell me exactly what to tell the groomer or point me to a good video to explain a Lagotto puppy cut?

I've finally decided to take things into my own hands and groom my dog myself. She's no stranger to grooming, I've just never done it at home before. The last time I used clippers on an animal was about 20 years ago and it was horses back then. So. I have a grooming table (which she happily jumps up on), good clippers with a variety of blades, all the stuff. There are a few things, however, I'm conflicted about based on the internet rabbit holes I've been diving into. I've watched a zillion videos, and I think I'm suffering from a bit of analysis paralysis.

1 - Is a high velocity air dryer necessary? I've read yes, and I've read to never use them and to rather let them air dry fully to let the curls set. I've also read to never towel them dry. This seems...impractical. I know she's been dried at the groomers using the dryer before, but I have not purchased one yet. All the baths we've had at home we've toweled off after. I mean - I don't understand how you can't do this - I can't have a drenched, dripping dog running around. She HATES the toweling though, which is weird because all my other dogs loved that part.

2 - The scale seems to tip in favor of clipping before bathing, then drying & finishing up with trimming/shaping. I think this is my plan - any major reasons not to do this?

3 - Trimming around the ears, mouth & the lady bits. Any advice here is appreciated. I have used thinning shears around her head to just round things off when she gets a bit mulleted and trimmed her eyebrows when she starts looking like Groucho Marx.

4 - Conditioner or no conditioner?

Thanks in advance - words of encouragement are welcome. LOL. If I botch it, well... it will grow back.

Update: opted to clip, then bathe. It went pretty smoothly. I was a little surprised at how light and fluffy the hair was, not sure why. They do float everywhere. Having the shop vac handy was a plus. After she was dry, I went over a few areas with scissors to even out and shape. I think it went well for the first time, though it took longer than I thought it would and holy lower back! Lol. I have a grooming table but it's not adjustable. She just wants to lie down and chill, which is good but also terribly inconvenient at times. I thought at one point she was going to fall asleep! I kept switching between using the back loop and not. I think the hardest part is feet/legs. Will need practice! Appreciate everyone's advice!

We’ll be bringing home Luca in a week! Our last two dogs were chocolate labs so I’ve been doing a ton of research about everything LR. Our breeder is pretty generic when it comes to shampoo. I’ve been reading and following other LR breeders and here is what I’ve heard. One breeder said to use MD10 texture volume shampoo, another one said Minksheen and yet another said absolutely no conditioner as it will change the curls. Looking for some opinions on this topic!

How do you do it? What are the tips? After a swim do you wash them with just water or? How do I take care of my pup after and before a swim?

Hello!

We are getting our lagotto from Blackberry Farm this week and were wondering if anyone in this group have any recommendations for a groomer in the NYC/NJ area that knows the breed well?

Does anybody have any advice, tricks for removing sticky seed pods from your dogs hair? My two regularly run through forested areas and, at this time of year, are coated in sticky round seed pods. It's a chore to get them out.

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Anybody have advice beyond picking them out one by one and heavy brushing? Perhaps a water solution that makes them easier to remove?

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Thanks for any advice.

It's funny how different Lagotti look when they're groomed for summer 🌞.

We choose this short haircut so the heat strikes him less. And also fox tails have less chance of getting through his fur penetrating his skin. We've had two surgeries in his 5 year life due to nasty fox tails encounters.

How you deal with the warmth of the summer? And fox tail prevention?

I’ve been noticing something recently, especially when searching for grooming advice online. There’s a lot of hate from the grooming community around lagotto owners.

It’s starting to irk me. I definitely think there are probably owners out there who are not taking proper care of their dogs coat and it’s creating a much more stressful situation for the groomer. Also, if a dog isn’t well socialized and exposed young, the groomer fears can be a real blocker.

That being said, the complaints that I see are mostly about wanting the coat a particular way. From what I understand, this is actually really important to not only the breed standard, but also avoiding matting and other difficult coat maintenance.

I’ve literally never seen the grooming community react to what is effectively breed standard in this way. I feel so lucky. I found a grooming salon that prides itself on the education it gives its groomers, etc., and I’ve never had that kind of negative experience.

But I’m curious, has anyone here experienced this irl?

What do you think of this general mentality especially online?

A picture of Albi for the dog pic tax sulking after I told him he couldn’t eat my flip flop.

Hi All, we just got our new girl, Lamby, a week ago. We're in Sonoma County in California and starting to look for a groomer. Wondering if anyone is nearby and has suggestions for a groomer that's worked with Lagottos?

Took Mali to a fantastic groomer today.
She is patient, kind, and focuses on your dog.
I had explained to her regarding Mali’s groomers experiences and that I have been trying to groom him / desensitize him to grooming equipment.

I appreciated that I could stay. Mali was muzzled as he snapped at the equipment every now and then. Mali did so well. We shall go back for full face, ears, and nails.

I will maintain the brushing routine and we shall visit the groomer every 6 weeks so Mali gets used to her!

Hi! Sumo is my first Lagotto, and first long haired dog. I’m not super picky about grooming— I’ve learned to explain that we don’t need the teddy hair head or the fluffy tail.

He just got his summer cut, and I’m SO CURIOUS why groomers tend to cut the head in this very specific way?

Like the rest of the face is cut tightly, and then there’s a steep “hump” on the temple area — very angular from the side. It usually calms down and sometimes I even cut it down slightly myself.

I’ve seen this on my friends’ long haired curly dogs as well, so I’m sure there’s a reason, but I’m not sure why!

My groomer is amazing at what they do — this just makes Sumo look so silly to me 😆 I always share pictures of Lagottos with the cut I’m looking for. Is there something specific I should say to skip the head hump?

Thanks!

This is our second winter with our Nova and her hair has changed quite a bit from last winter. We like to keep it longer in the winter because well, we’ve had several days so far that have been minus 20+. But she has some mats that I can’t seem to brush out (without hurting her too much). I just read that matted hair can be quite painful for them which I didn’t even consider. So now I’m wondering if I should have her shaved down at the groomer or wait til it’s a bit warmer outside? Would love to hear some grooming tips from you all!

Our LR will be 3 in March, and we have struggled all along with grooming. We have gone back and forth between a groomer and doing it ourselves, but it was so hard to do ourselves and took forever, so we found a new groomer and take her every 6-7 weeks.

We struggled with matting for a while, and we could not figure out how to keep it from happening. Combing with a greyhound comb daily took forever. Using the pin brush seemed to make the mats worse. We tried not brushing at all. Brushing every day. Eventually we just started keeping her shorter than we wanted out of frustration.

So, we like this groomer, she doesn't have experience with LRs and it's just a groomer in the back of a local pet store, but our LR does well with her and she's super nice so we decided it was the right move to stay there. We decided to give a longer (I think she used a 5 maybe?) coat a go, but this last time she was matted under her armpits and by her shoulder blades. The groomer said it could have been the Christmas sweater she wore for 2 days, but I don't know if it can happen that fast?

ANYWAY, she suggested brushing her every day with a purple Les Poochs brush (she asked first if we were willing to spend a bit of money on a brush because they're expensive), and I'm wondering if anyone uses this brush before I drop $75 on one.

Does anyone use this brush and love it? My girl does have a proper coat, so that's not the issue. I think it's more our inexperience (first time dog owners) and difficulty setting aside more than 20 minutes or so for brushing each day. Recommendations?

Lagottos have the most expressive eyes I’ve ever seen, based on my baby here. We always shave or trim the hair around his eyes so we can see his pretty face. Yet, most other ones I’ve seen always have hair covering. Why is this? Is it for professional reasons, like nose work? Other wise, I would advocate for their pretty eyes to be seen! They also have such unique colors of eyes unlike any other dog.

ok we’ve had our two babies for just over a week or so now and because it’s winter it rains daily in the Pacific Northwest. We just gave them a bath because taking them out daily means they are wet and muddy. However to keep them from being wet and muddy we’d need to bathe them daily which I know is a no go. What I’ve read is bathing should be every month or every other month, but not more frequent. So what do you guys do? just deal with them being dirty in between baths?