My girl just spent 45 minutes detangling her cavapoo’s curls so she could go to the vet, and honestly, I almost cried.
That fluffy little cloud of a dog looked adorable as it went in and it came out looking like a totally different animal and not in a good way.
Cavapoo haircut styles are not one size fits all. Some of them can make your dog look like a cuddly teddy bear just stepped off the shelf. While other styles can leave your dog looking patchy and sad for weeks until the regrowth.
I’ve been down that road. Twice.
If you’ve ever wondered how to cut your cavapoo, then look no further! I put together 11 styling ideas that I know for sure will look great on your cavapoo, without compromising their poodle mix fur! Whether your dog runs through your Pinterest worthy living room and your clean floors turn into a fur ball, or they’re tearing around the backyard (or both… constantly), there is a cut for your dog here!
#1: The Puppy Cut — The Classic That Never Gets Old
Oh, you know when your dog comes back from the groomer and you just…stop. Like, mid-coffee sip stop? That’s this cut.
The Puppy Cut is a style which keeps your Cavapoo looking with a coat length of 1-2 inches all over the body and a slightly fuller, rounder head. The Puppy Cut is the cut that makes your Cavapoo look like they are only 5 months old.
See that golden-cream fluff in the photo? That’s a Puppy Cut on an apricot and cream cavapoo. The body stays neat and curly, and the face is always soft and round with a little orange bow on top of it’s head.
Ask your groomer to leave a little bit more length around the ears and top of the head. This is what creates the rounded, teddy bear type look. If you are a fan of this look, then you may want to check out the Teddy Bear Dog Haircut Ideas: The Ultimate Guide to an Adorable Look.
We try to get him trimmed every 6-8 weeks to keep him looking this clean!
📸 Photo credit: Instagram @chloe_the_cavoodle19
#2: The Teddy Bear Cut — Round, Fluffy, and Honestly the Cutest Thing Ever
If you have a golden retriever, you probably know how they will shake their head and their ears are just everywhere. Cavapoos do that too, except their curls puff up and look super adorable.
What a teddy bear energy! The groomer left the top of the head full and round, but shaved the face into a soft globe and trimmed the body to about 1.5 to 2 inches all over so there are no harsh lines. This cute auburn fluff ball looks like someone forgot to shelve her on the plush toy shelf.
I love the pink heart bandana – Chef’s kiss. It really ties the look together and doesn’t compete with the cut.
The key here is to request that your dog’s head be finished with a rounded scissor finish as clippers alone will not create a nice sphere shape. Your groomer can do the top with hand scissor.
If your dog has wavy curls, like the dog in the picture, I recommend you ask for a light dematting before the haircut. It keeps the curls from clumping together and your dog’s round shape will last between groomings.
Brush your dog twice a week with a slicker brush to keep your dog’s poof looking fresh.
📸 Photo credit: Instagram @dmvgroomer
#3: The Teddy Bear Cut — Fluffy, Round, and Ridiculously Cute
Your cavapoo is trotting past you on the hardwood floor and you just stop. Because honestly, they look like a stuffed animal that’s come to life.
That’s the Teddy Bear Cut doing its thing.
The cut keeps the fur 1.5 to 2 inches all over the body. Rounded face, puffy ears, soft paws. The coat stays in its natural auburn or apricot tones, and the wavy-curly texture gets to actually shine.
When it comes to the head, ask your groomer to keep it full and round. Trim the muzzle area short to expose the tiny black nose. I keep the ears just a little curled at the tips. And that’s it!
The scissors were a little rounded at the top so it’s a nice rounded “cut” around the paws so there is no jagged parts. I kept the fluffiness around the paws. I didn’t want them looking like a show dog. Lol.
It also means that my dog’s coat isn’t matted and I don’t have to spend as much time combing it (or my dog having to tolerate it).
And if your dog has a rich red-brown coat like this one, it is inevitable that passers by will stop you and ask if your Teddy Bear Cut pup is real!
Make sure to brush every 2-3 days with a slicker brush in between to keep your round face fresh.
📸 Photo credit: Instagram @fluffymissmaple
#4: The Teddy Bear Cut — Fluffy, Round, and Ridiculously Cute
You know how it goes… Your Golden Retriever has a shake after a walk, and suddenly there’s fur everywhere — on the couch, on the rug, in your coffee. As a Cavapoo owner, you get a different version of that same chaos. This cut helps keep things under control.
Teddy bear cut for Kauai. The length of the fur is cut 1-2 inches all over the body with a rounded face. Just fluffy enough to look like a living stuffed animal. The white chin patch on the picture is a natural marking. The rounded snout is made by blending the muzzle fur into the cheeks.
Ask your groomer to keep her ears full and floppy, trim the paws into a cute rounded pom shape, and leave her tail with a little plume at the end. This look is so Pinterest-perfect with the balance of tail, body, and face.
This is also quite easy to maintain, just brush your cavapoo 3x a week with a slicker brush and have your dogs groomed every 6-8 weeks for them to keep their round face shape tight. If you don’t brush your dog, they are going to mat behind their ears, which is the first place to happen.
BUT: The tighter the curls in a Cavapoo’s coat, the faster the cut loses its shape. If your cavapoo is more poodle than cavalier, then I would recommend bringing your cavapoo in for a groom every 5-6 weeks.
📸 Photo credit: Instagram @feebsthecavapoo
#5: The Teddy Bear Cut — Fluffy, Round, and Ridiculously Adorable
Your Cavapoo trots past you and you do a double take. Did you just adopt a stuffed animal?! It’s just the teddy bear cut doing its thing.
This style keeps the fur 1.5 to 2 inches all over the body and gives your pup a round, full face trim that will make them look like they were plucked straight from a Pinterest mood board. The coat is kept soft and the face is kept perfectly puffed with the ears blending into the head for that classic plush toy look.
My groomer has always kept the fur on my dog’s muzzle a bit shorter than the cheeks, which makes his face appear more round. The top of his head is left a little longer and cut with scissors to make a dome. No razor, just a smooth curve.
The Golden Retriever can have a long coat that requires daily brushing. A slicker brush should be used every 2 days to keep the fur from matting without stripping the soft golden fluff.
No need to cut around the eyes every 3-4 weeks, so your puppy can actually see again. That curls grow fast.
📸 Photo credit: Instagram @littlebaileypoo
#6: The Teddy Bear Cut — Round, Fluffy, and Basically a Living Stuffed Animal
You know how sometimes when you walk your dog, you’re minding your own business, and some stranger literally gasps? Like, they stop mid-sentence and go “WAIT. Is that a real dog?!” That’s what my Teddy Bear Cut does.
This style keeps the fur around 1.5 to 2 inches all over the body. The head is round and full, looking like something straight off a toy store shelf. The face is scissor finished into a perfect sphere with no harsh lines. The muzzle area is kept slightly shorter to show off the dark button eyes.
The groomer uses thinning shears to cut around the ears to blend everything into one big, fluffy puff. There are no flyaways.
The white bandana with the little bear patch. That’s Chef’s kiss right there. It completes the look. The bear cut needs bear accessories.
This style is best on curly or wavy coats; it doesn’t work well on a straight coat. Ask your groomer to leave extra length around the crown and have her use a curved scissors technique to give your dog’s head a round shape.
Brush daily with a slicker brush to keep the puff intact between appointments.
📸 Photo credit: Instagram @london_thetoycavoodle
#7: The Teddy Bear Cut (And Yes, It’s As Adorable As It Sounds)
You’ve seen the guy walk into your house and immediately stop and stare at your dog. That’s the teddy bear cut energy.
This style of fur keeps the fur on the body 1.5 to 2 inches long all over and leaves the head round and the cheeks full and fluffy so that the Cavapoo puppy look like a stuffed animal. It keeps the face soft and round without any harsh lines or sharp angles.
The magic is in the face trim. Your groomer uses a pair of curved shears to shape the head in a dome shape, and to keep the ears blended into the cheeks. The muzzle will also be left a little fuller, giving that squishy face look.
Ask your groomer to leave your paws slightly fluffier than usual. Leaving the feet slightly fluffier gives the overall round and soft silhouette of your dog and adds to the look from head to toe.
I have to say, you’ve got to brush this cut at least every 2-3 days. It fluffs up really fast!
📸 Photo credit: Instagram @penny.the.teddy
#8: The “Teddy Bear Cut” — And Why It’s Everyone’s Favorite for a Reason
look at these guys, just chillin’, doing what they do best. if my golden retriever curled up next to a fluffy stuffed animal, i would assume it would have a similar energy to this gray sectional.
And a big ol’ teddy bear cut keeps the fur 1.5 to 2 inches all over the body, with a rounded face trim that really brings out their little button eyes. We love the darker, richer auburn on the pup in the back. Freshly scissor-finished fur deepens the color of the natural coat, as opposed to clippers which can dull the color.
i want her to use the curved shears around the muzzle and keep the ears full and blended, not to be chopped. the lighter apricot tones on the front pup to stay soft as the ends weren’t over-thinned.
So for the paws, form them into neat circles to help reduce mud on your floors after every walk.
Trim the beard on every 6-8 weeks at least. Otherwise the beard can become shaggy in between.
📸 Photo credit: Instagram @ollie.mavi.benny
#9: The Poodle Puff Cut (And Why It Works Perfectly for Cavapoos)
I was just wanting to show you one of my favorite cuts to do on a Shiatsu, when their coat is all just fluffed up and beautiful… but also a bit “matted”. I love cutting this down so they are no longer tangled.
The Poodle Puff style keeps the body trimmed short while leaving a rounded, voluminous puff of fur between the ears, sometimes likened to apricot cotton candy. The pink clip used to hold the topknot off of the head while grooming is known as the Chef’s Kiss.
To achieve this look, you need a grooming table with a non-slip pink mat (I like this one. It’s 24″ x 36″), a steel rat-tail comb and sharp curved grooming shears to shape the round pom poms on the legs and tail.
Having a short body trim reduces shedding and tangles (so there is less fur on the couch) and way less “oh no” moments for muddy paws.
Before you decide: ask your groomer to keep at least 2 inches of length on the topknot so the puff can be held in its dome shape.
Did you notice that there is a glass vase of Carnations on your coffee table nearby? It is not just there for a cute look. It is a great way to remind you if your dog is sneezing after the groom (product sensitivity).
📸 Photo credit: Instagram @rositathepoodle
#10: The “Puppy Cut” — The Style That Keeps Them Running Wild (Without the Matted Mess)
Also good for that moment when your dog sprints back to you across the grass with his ears flapping and his tongue hanging out, and you just melt for him.
The puppy cut keeps the length of the coat at a uniform length of 1 to 2 inches all over: on the body, on the legs, on the face and even the ears. Both dogs in this photo have the puppy cut, and girl, don’t they look free!
The lighter one wears a cream/sandy coat, the darker one a rich auburn-brown. Same cut, different dog. This cut looks great on any Cavapoo color.
Keep this in mind: the shorter the cut, the less mud will be transferred to your rugs after a park run.
Make sure you ask your groomer to keep the ear length a little longer to give it that fluffy ear shape that really makes your Cavapoo look like a Cavapoo and not a Doodle.
Be careful not to let your dog go too long between trims. I usually recommend every 8 weeks or so at the latest, otherwise you’ll end up with mats.
📸 Photo credit: Instagram @puppupbear
#11: The Teddy Bear Cut — The Style That Makes Your Cavapoo Look Like a Living Stuffed Animal
You know that moment when you are vacuuming the living room and your golden retriever walks through right as you are done leaving a trail of fur across the clean floor? Well your Cavapoo may walk through and you won’t even know he went by. That’s the Teddy Bear Cut life.
The cut keeps the fur uniform, around 1.5 to 2 inches all over the body, and short, round, fluffy head as if it were a stuffed animal. The coat comes in the rich auburn or chocolate brown, which actually looks unreal against a light colored couch.
Ask your groomer to keep your pooch’s ears full and rounded rather than trimming them flat. The face will then be scissor-shapped into a circle, rather than a taper, giving him that plush look!
Give your cat a brush with a slicker brush every 2-3 days to prevent mats at the neck and behind the ears where they tend to tangle quickly.
The round face shape of a Cavapoo helps to reduce the length of the snout, making the eyes appear larger and helping to give your Cavapoo a permanent puppy expression that will melt everyone that comes into the room.
📸 Photo credit: Instagram @sandra.mularska
The Haircut Mistake That’s Making Your Cavapoo Look Scraggly (And How to Fix It)
Most groomers won’t tell you this, but the direction you cut is just as important as the length you choose.
Many people ask for a “teddy bear cut” on their cavapoo and end up with a very fluffy pup that they think looks adorable for the first three days and then it gets frizzy. The reason for this is because the cavapoo coat has two textures to it. The poodle side of the coat wants to curl tightly and the cavalier side wants to wave loosely. If a groomer cuts the coat against the natural growth of the dog, it causes the two textures to battle.
My girl used to always come home looking like a different dog every time. I was a mess.
But what actually works? Make sure your groomer follows the coat’s natural direction and leaves the body coat at least 1.5 to 2 inches long (most salons will leave it around 1 inch). The longer length will relax the curl pattern and the coat won’t “poof” out so much.
Also, tell them to give you a hand-scissoring around the face. The finish is so much softer, and it looks SO good!
Your Floors Deserve Better Than Muddy Paw Prints
I know that your home is your sanctuary and that you’ve worked too hard on your chic home decor to let Buddy’s post-walk chaos ruin your living room every day.
Pick one rug from the list below. I dare you. Buy it. Have it delivered. Unbox it. Take a deep breath, then relax, because now you’re not holding your breath every time the back door opens.
Your Golden will never stop being golden, muddy, drooly, and absolutely perfect, but your floors don’t have to suffer for it.
Which style did you like the most when you were scrolling through?
Amr Mohsen is a software engineer who traded his keyboard for a leash — at least on weekends. His love for dogs inspired him to share what he learns as a dog owner and enthusiast, bringing a detail-oriented, research-driven perspective to every article he writes. If it’s about dogs, he’s probably already looked it up twice.
