Grooming a cockapoo face is a delicate task that can leave some owners nervous and wanting to know exactly how to trim a cockapoo face. In fact, a cockapoo’s face will often need trimming and cutting between trips to the groomers to keep hair from obstructing their eyes.
To trim a cockapoo face, you need to understand what equipment you’ll need, the sections of the cockapoo face and what parts to actually cut to keep your pooch looking pretty.
Get the right equipment ready to trim a cockapoo face
The equipment you’ll need to trim a cockapoo face is fairly easy. You’ll need:
- Scissors
- A wide-tooth comb
- Treats your dog loves
The last two on this list are pretty self-explanatory. With regards to scissors, you’ll want to go for some that are long-bladed and sharp. A set like these ones from Amazon are ideal because they are long enough to help avoid any accidents (more on that below). If you’re looking to get your own set of dog clippers, we have an easy guide to the best ones.
Understand the sections of the cockapoo face
When grooming a cockapoo face it is really important to understand the different sections of their head. This helps you to get the right look that you want for your cockapoo (and not end up with a skin-head!) Essentially, it is all about thinking in three circles.
Crown
This outer circle takes into account the crown, or top of your cockapoo’s head. It is the band of space between the ears. Generally, you want this section to be medium length. Too short and it’ll look out of proportion with the rest of your cockapoo’s face. Too long and you’ll be having an elvis impersonator on your hands!
Eyes
This is a really delicate section to groom on your cockapoo. It includes the eyes and eyebrows. You should take great care when trimming this section because there is the biggest risk of serious injury.
Also, there are whiskers located here. Trimming your dog’s whiskers won’t hurt them. However, because they are extremely sensitive, your dog will be more aware of their whiskers being cut than regular hair.
As a result, they could flinch when you snip – so take care!
Muzzle
This is essentially the nose area. Again there are whiskers here, so care must be taken to avoid flinching.
How to trim the top of a cockapoo’s head
The first step to trimming a cockapoo’s face is to start with the crown area of their head. As mentioned above, you want to keep this at a medium length. Roughly, the hair should be slightly shorter than a matchstick.
Before starting, make sure your cockapoo is properly bathed and dry. Then, start by lightly combing the this section, letting the hair fall naturally in its growing direction.
Then, just like a hairdresser, pull up the hair between your fingers in one hand, a snip using the other.
To prevent obvious cutting lines, try to make smaller snips at a 45 degree angle. This will give the hair a more even, natural look.
To stop your cockapoo from moving, it’s a good idea to hold their hair firmly (but not so you’re pulling).
If (and it’s a big if!) you want to get creative, you can leave this section longer if their fur is really curly. This will result in achieving a poofy, poodle-like look.
How to trim cockapoo eyes and eyebrows
This is the most delicate area to trim on your cockapoo’s face, so be careful!
When trimming the eyes, you’ll need to make sure that your cockapoo doesn’t move its face. If it does, it could end up with a nasty poke to the eye.
To do this, use your free hand to grip the hair under their chin. This should be a tight grip, but not one that pulls. What this does is prevent them from turning their head, or accidentally headbutting your scissors.
When using the scissors, never trim with the tips of the blade, and never trim with the tips pointed downwards. Instead, always make sure that the tips of the blades are pointed upwards, and cut with the middle part of the scissors.
This way, if your cockapoo moves, the scissors can’t poke them in the eye!
It’s a good idea to start by combing all of the eyebrow and eye hairs down towards the nose. This will give you a good sense of how much needs to be cut.
Keep any hairs that grow down over the eyes short to help your pooch see – this also helps to prevent eye infections.
Then go up to the eyebrows to even things out.
For the eyebrow line, the hair can be kept short just above the eye. Then, cut the hair growing outwards towards the ears a little longer. This will help to frame your cockapoo’s eyes.
How to trim a cockapoo muzzle and nose
The main thing to focus on when trimming a cockapoo’s face is the muzzle. Here, if you cut too short or wonky, then you’ll notice it!
Short hair on the muzzle will make your cockapoo look much more spaniel like (as I’ve found out before!).
For this section, focus on developing a curve of longer hair. Think of it almost like creating a bushy mustache!
Small snips go a long way here.
Start by combing the hair downwards on each side of the nose, and cut a straight line level with the jaw.
Then, pull the same hair you’ve just combed sideways and away from the nose.
You’ll quickly see long stray hairs that stand out. Snip these away and then cut away a small amount of hair to make a curve.
As you move towards the nose, the hair will start to get shorter – you can mostly leave this part alone.
Getting different looks!
In this post, I’ve focused on the basic techniques and looked at how to trim a cockapoo face. Once you’re comfortable with the basics, then it is time to experiment!
It’s all about understanding the three circle areas and playing around with length.
How to get a teddy bear look
A teddy bear look refers to a type of grooming that ends with your cockapoo looking like a little teddy bear.
To get this look on a cockapoo’s face, all you need to do is follow the above steps! This is because a teddy bear look simply means not having the hair too short, or too pronounced in certain areas.
For a teddy bear look:
- The crown should be medium
- The eyes short
- Eyebrows medium
- The muzzle round and fairly long
How to get a poodle look
Poodles are generally cut shorter around the muzzle and eyebrow areas to show off their bone structure. So, repeat the steps above, but keep the hair on the crown long and the hair around the eyes and muzzle short.
The best low maintenance look.
Sometimes you may wish to go for a low maintenance look to avoid trimming your cockapoos face every couple of weeks.
The best look, in my experience, that fuses “low maintenance” and “cuteness” is a slightly shorter, less poofy muzzle, short hair on the crown and medium length eyebrows.
This keeps enough definition to keep your pooch looking cute, but the reduced length around the muzzle means that your cockapoo will get less mud, food and everything else stuck around his mouth!
