Does a Yorki-Poo Need Grooming?

Q. I recently lost my darling Yorkshire Terrier. I now have a chance to purchase a Yorkshire Terrier-Poodle mix (Yorki-poo). Would it need professional grooming?

A. Bringing a Yorki-poo into your life may be worth investigating, if you do your homework. Professional groomers are seeing more of these Poodle mixes – also called “doodles” or “designer dogs” – every day. And yes, they do look and feel their best if they visit the groomer because their hair needs trimming every six to eight weeks.

At the grooming shop, we clipper most of our Yorkie-Poodle mixes to about one-half inch on the back, evenly trim the legs so they are rounded and slightly fuller than the body, and create rounded feet. If the head looks more like a Yorkie, we trim it into a face-framing “dish,” by cleaning the eyes of excess hair, clipping a short visor or bangs over them, and closely clipping the ears. If the topknot is curly like a Poodle, we shape it into a round cap with trimmed whiskers on the face. Since there is no breed standard as to a Yorki-poo’s styling, if you think it looks adorable, we groomed it correctly!