Poodle Haircut Styles

The puppy clip is a popular clip for pups under a year old. The face, throat, feet and base of the tail are shaved or cut closely. The entire shaven foot is visible. A pompon is shaped on the end of the tail. The topknot is left fluffy. The rest of the body is scissor-cut and shaped to accent the dog's form. The kennel or utility clip is similar to the puppy clip. The face, feet and base of the tail are shaved closely. The topknot and pom on the end of tail are longer than the body hair. The lamb clip is cut short and even all over the body.

The American Kennel Club has certain standards and cuts for showing dogs. The show puppy clip is a longer version of the regular puppy clip; the topknot is pulled into a ponytail.

For the English saddle cut, the face, throat, feet and forelegs are shaved. Puffs are formed on the forelegs and a pompon is shaped on the end of the tail. The hindquarters have a shaved area on each flank and two shaved bands on the hind legs. The body is long and in a full coat.

The Continental clip requires shaven face, throat, feet, and base of tail. Optional pompons are shaped on the hips. Shaven legs includes bracelets on the hind legs and puffs on the forelegs. The sporting cut has a scissored cap on the top of the head and the whole body is cut no longer than 1 inch long.

The pajama Dutch clip calls for shaving the face, neck, belly band, feet and base of tail. The topknot comes to a point on the back of the neck. The body hair is left fluffy and scissored into shape. The Pittsburgh Dutch clip has a line shaved between the withers and follows the spine. It stops at the belly band. The crisscross Dutch has narrow shaved lines that cross over each other. The Chicago Dutch cut has a belly band shaped into a V and ending with a narrow line along the spine.

The bell-bottom cut includes a shaved face and neck, and a wide belly band. The legs are left long and fluffy. The bolero cut requires shaved face, neck and belly band. The legs are fluffy except for poms just above the wrist area. A band is shaved between full leg and poms.The fox cut requires face, feet and tail shaved with no pom on the tail. The legs are longer than the body hair. Jacket and pants cut has the usual shaved face, neck and base of tail. The body, however, is also shaved. The legs are left fluffy.

There are numbers of poodle cuts whereby the hair is fluffy all over and the face is not shaved, such as the Fifth Avenue cut, the German cut, the Miami cut and the popular teddy-bear cut. Some groomers have their own variations and may use different names for the cuts. It's important to talk with the groomer and clarify exactly what the cut is regardless of its name. Some owners choose to create their own version of a cut, or deviate from traditional hair length.