The Lagotto is one of the breeds I fell in love with while researching the history of the poodle. When I understood how amazing the Lagotto is in both body shape and character, as well as coat type and structure, I fell so much in love that I started to search more and more on them.
Here you will find my contribution to the grooming of the breed, since many owners and breeders find it very difficult to maintain or groom this kind of coat, especially when the biggest challenge is how to make it rustic and not over groom it.
hope you will enjoy it...
Prep Grooming and Bathing
Drying
Styling
Lagotto Romagnolo Full Grooming Check List
- Never brush a dog when the coat is dirty and dry; only after the bath during drying. No brushing between two baths. Because the Lagotto coat is curly and very wooly, dry brushing can damage and pull a lot of undercoat out, which can result in the dog’s coat becoming even more matted or soft because lack of undercoat.
- Put the dog on the grooming table and scissor around, just to shape the dog. Overall body contour is the primary goal of Lagotto grooming. Keep in mind the very important parts of the dog’s body that will help you achieve the ultimate shape
- a) Head should appear diamond shaped- do not make it round as a Bichon
- b) Underline should appear straight without extreme depth of chest, since the underline of the waterdogs should appear straight, with low tuck up.
Bathing
- The recommended time in between the baths is 7-10 days to keep dog free of tangles
- Wet the coat with lukewarm water
- Use Sasha Riess Pure Love The Shampoo diluted according the coat type, length and amount of dirtiness. The Shampoo can be diluted up to 1:10, but if regularly maintained - if bathed once in 7-10 days you can dilute it even up to 1:20. Even if not foaming a lot, the shampoo will rinse easily.
- Rinse the shampoo, and apply Sasha Riess Pure Love The Shampoo again, less concentrated then the first time.
- Rinse carefully all the shampoo from the coat
- Apply Sasha Riess Harmony The Conditioner, diluted according to the coat age and condition.
- Rinse The Conditioner
- Towel dry the dog and let it rest for about 10 minutes, wrapped in a towel
- Dry the dog using lukewarm air with a stand drier and use a slicker brush only at the parts of the coat that are tangled. Once done with de-matting, wet the back parts that became straight while brushing in order to get curls back. The best way would be to leave the dog to dry on its own, with no hairdryer at all, but if using a dryer, just use a low air speed, and hand dry it with no combs or brushes, in order to keep curls nice and well shaped.
- Ideal goal of the curls would be ring shape curls on the body, and twist curls over the legs and head, where coat will be slightly longer.
Styling:
- What we want to achieve is an overall look of a rustic dog in body contour. Spray the dog with water all over to create a wet look and scissor it wet. This will help you get a rustic look, because drying of the coat will be uneven. This will help some curls to be more or less elastic, which will help you create a rustic finish
- Use Sasha Riess Straight Shears to shape the body. Always spray water all over the area where you are scissoring.
15.Use Thinning Sears to trim around the paws to make them look like cat paws.
16.Use Facial Shears to trim the coat in between the pads.
17. Use Chunker Shears for all over body finishing
18. Clean the front part of the neck close to skin with a #5 blade of Oster or other similar size clipper blade, or scissor it close to skin.
19. Trim the lateral part of the ears close to skin following entire line. ONLY trim the outer part of the ear. This will help you create the diamond shape of the head once dog is alert.
20. Scissor the cheeks to make them flat and to have nice ear placement. Do not scissor close to skin.
21. Scissor the stop to create a nice expression. If the color of the eyes is too light, leave some coat to fall over eyes.
22. Scissor moustaches and beard to appear round, having the nose as a final guide.The hair should not fall over the nose when looking from the side.
Take a photo and feel proud that you did it.....
Have an amazing time while grooming!
Love you!