How Often Should a Cockapoo Be Groomed?

Short answer: every six to eight weeks, with a proper brush-out two or three times a week in between. Stretch beyond ten weeks and you are usually no longer choosing the haircut — the coat is choosing it for you.

Cockapoos are the breed we groom more than any other in Lincoln, and coat length is far and away the thing owners ask about most. So here is the honest version.

Why six to eight weeks

A Cockapoo coat does not shed the way a Labrador’s does. The hair that loosens has nowhere to go, so it stays in the coat and works its way down towards the skin. Left there it starts to bind with the growing hair, and that is matting — it forms from the skin outwards, not from the surface down.

That is why a coat can look perfectly fine on top and be felted underneath. By the time you can see a problem, it has usually been building for weeks.

Six to eight weeks is roughly how long it takes for that process to get ahead of home brushing on an average Cockapoo coat. Some go longer comfortably; a few need five.

What actually changes the answer

• Coat type. A tight curl mats faster than a loose wave. Cockapoos vary enormously — two dogs from the same litter can need different intervals.
• How long you keep it. A shorter cut genuinely does last longer before matting. It is not a failure to go shorter in winter.
• Swimming and wet walks. Repeated wetting without drying to the skin is the fastest route to matting there is. A dog who swims year round needs more frequent grooming, or a shorter coat.
• Age. Between roughly eight and fourteen months a Cockapoo goes through a coat change, swapping puppy coat for adult. During that window they can mat almost overnight. More on that below.
• Harnesses. Anywhere something rubs — behind the elbows, under a harness strap, around a collar — mats first. Check those spots weekly.

The coat change nobody warns you about

Somewhere around eight to twelve months, the soft puppy coat starts being pushed out by a coarser adult coat. For a few months both are present at once, and the old coat has nowhere to go.

Owners often tell us their dog “suddenly” started matting when nothing had changed. Nothing had — except the coat. Through that period you may need to brush daily and groom every six weeks rather than eight. It passes.

Brushing at home: the bit most people get wrong

A slicker brush glides over the top of a curly coat while the layer underneath stays untouched. It feels like you have done a thorough job, and the dog is still matting at the skin.

The fix is a metal comb. Brush first, then run the comb through from the skin outwards. If it will not pass cleanly, the brush has missed something — go back over that area.

Two or three sessions a week of ten minutes beats one long session on a Sunday. Concentrate on the places that mat first: behind the ears, under the collar, in the armpits, behind the elbows, on the backs of the legs and around the tail.

What happens if you leave it too long

We will always tell you honestly what your options are, and sometimes the honest answer is that the coat has to come off short.

Dematting a badly matted coat means hours of pulling at hair that is attached to skin. It is uncomfortable at best and genuinely painful at worst, and it can leave the skin sore and inflamed afterwards. Where a coat is matted close to the skin, a short clip and a fresh start is the kinder answer, and we will say so before we begin rather than after.

It grows back. It always grows back.

Common questions

Can I stretch it to twelve weeks to save money?

You can, but you will usually be paying for the extra time it takes, and you will be accepting a shorter cut than you wanted. If cost is the reason, a shorter style at eight weeks generally works out better than a longer style at twelve.

Does a shorter cut make the coat grow back thicker?

No. That is a myth. What changes is the texture as it grows out, which can feel different for a few weeks.

My Cockapoo hates being brushed. What do I do?

Short and frequent, with something good happening at the end. Thirty seconds on one leg, then a treat. Most dogs who hate brushing learned it from a session that went on too long or pulled at a mat. Sort the mats professionally, then start again from scratch.

Spreading the cost

If your Cockapoo is in every six to eight weeks anyway, our VIP Membership turns the year into one monthly payment and includes a seasonal spa treatment with every groom, free walk-in nail clips in between and photos after each visit. An eight-weekly Cockapoo works out at around £33 a month.

More on what we do for the breed on our Cockapoo grooming page, or book online and the exact price for your dog appears before you confirm anything.