7 Poodle Haircuts and Which One Suits Your Dog
Quick version: the shortest poodle haircut you are happy to look at is usually the right one. Length is what decides how much brushing you do at home and how often the dog comes back, and everything else on this list is a variation on that.
A poodle haircut is really two decisions: how short the body goes, and how much hair stays on the legs, face and tail. Once you have those two, the named styles below are just the common ways of combining them. Here are seven cuts we get asked for, what each one looks like on a real dog, and which type of owner tends to be happy with it.
All seven are the same kind of appointment, a haircut rather than a bath. People often land on pets at home dog grooming prices while they are working out what that involves, and it lists what the Bath Package and the Haircut Package each cover.
- How often you can realistically get the dog back in. That is the biggest one.
- How much brushing you will actually do at home, not how much you plan to do.
- Whether the coat is curly and dense, or wavy and soft. Soft wavy coats mat faster than they look like they will.
1. The puppy cut
One length over the whole body, legs included, with the face and tail rounded off. Usually somewhere between half an inch and two inches, depending on what you ask for. The name is misleading because it has nothing to do with the dog's age. Plenty of ten year old poodles wear it.
This is the cut to pick if you are not sure what you want. It is even, it grows out evenly, and it looks like the same haircut for weeks rather than turning shaggy in one spot first. Longer versions still need brushing two or three times a week or the legs and the collar area will mat.
2. The teddy bear cut
A puppy cut with the head worked differently. The muzzle hair is left longer and scissored round instead of shaved down, and the ears are blended into it, so the whole head reads as a circle. The body is usually a little shorter than the head so the face stands out.
It is one of the most requested cuts on toy and miniature poodles and on poodle mixes. The catch is the face. Round only stays round for a few weeks, and once the muzzle hair grows past the eyes the shape is gone. If you love the look, plan on coming back sooner than you would for a plain puppy cut.
3. The lamb cut
Short on the body, longer on the legs, so the legs look like straight columns under a close cut back. The face and topknot are trimmed neat but not shaved. It is the cut people picture when they think a dog looks like a poodle without looking like a show dog.
The legs are the whole job here. Long leg hair picks up grass seed and mats behind the elbows and in the armpits, and those are the spots owners miss. If you are not going to comb the legs out a few times a week, ask for the leg hair shorter than the picture you are holding.
4. The kennel cut
Short everywhere, done with a close blade rather than a guard comb, including the legs. Some people call it a utility cut or a summer cut. It is the lowest maintenance haircut on this list by a distance, and it is the one we do when a coat has matted past the point where saving the length would hurt.
Pick it if your dog swims, rolls in things, hates being brushed, or if life is busy and the brushing is not happening. The trade off is that a poodle in a kennel cut does not look much like a poodle for the first couple of weeks. The coat comes back, it just takes a few months to get any length again.
5. The town and country clip
A middle option. The body is clipped short, the legs are left a little longer than the body but shorter than a lamb cut, the feet and face are clean, and there is a tidy rounded topknot on the head. It looks deliberate without needing show grooming.
This suits owners who want the dog to look smart in photos but do not want daily combing. The topknot is the part that needs you. It sits right over the eyes, so it either gets trimmed regularly or tied up, otherwise the dog spends a month looking through hair.
6. The Miami clip
Also called the bikini clip. The face, feet and the base of the tail are shaved clean, the body is short, and there are cuffs of hair left around the ankles with a pom on the end of the tail. It is light, it dries fast, and it is popular in hot weather.
The shaved face is the part to think about. Some dogs suit a bare face and some do not. If you want a beard and a moustache left on instead, that shape is closer to a schnauzer haircut, which works well on poodle mixes with a squarer muzzle.
7. The continental clip
The one everyone recognises from the show ring. The back half is shaved, with round poms left on the hips, a full mane of long hair over the chest and shoulders, bracelets at the ankles, a pom on the tail, and a shaved face and feet.
It is a real haircut with a real purpose, since the mane started out as insulation for water dogs, but it is a lot of work. The mane needs combing to the skin most days and it mats if it gets wet and dries on its own. Outside of showing, very few pet poodles wear it for long. If you want something more fashion led than these seven, we have a separate rundown of ten trendier poodle cuts.
| Cut | Body | Legs | Face | Typical rebook |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Puppy cut | One length all over | Same as body | Rounded | 6 to 8 weeks |
| Teddy bear cut | Short | Same as body | Rounded and full | 4 to 6 weeks |
| Lamb cut | Short | Longer, column shaped | Neat, not shaved | 4 to 6 weeks |
| Kennel cut | Very short | Very short | Short and tidy | 8 to 10 weeks |
| Town and country | Short | Slightly longer than body | Clean, with a topknot | About 6 weeks |
| Miami clip | Short | Shaved with ankle cuffs | Shaved | 4 to 6 weeks |
| Continental clip | Shaved at the back, long mane | Shaved with bracelets | Shaved | 3 to 4 weeks |
Choosing the Right Poodle Haircut for Your Dog
The cut that goes wrong is almost always the one that needed more brushing than the household had time for. So work backwards. Decide how often you can get the dog groomed, be honest about the brushing, and choose the style that fits inside that. If you want to hold the shape longer between visits, we put the home side of it in a separate guide on how to maintain a poodle haircut at home.
We do the whole haircut in the van at your door, one dog at a time, with no crate and no waiting around with other dogs. Dublin and San Ramon are two of the towns we are in most weeks, so we cover mobile dog grooming dublin and grooming san ramon separately if you want the details for your street.
If you already know which of the seven you want, tell us when you get in touch. If you do not, that is fine too, and the puppy cut is a safe place to start. We are out seven days a week, 8am to 5pm.
