A cavoodle needs a professional groom every six to eight weeks, plus brushing several times a week at home, because its soft coat keeps growing and matts easily if it’s left alone. Most owners go with a teddy bear cut, which is by far the most requested cavoodle style. Coat type makes a difference too: fleece coats are the easiest to manage, while curly wool coats matt fastest and need the most attention. Get into a regular rhythm early and grooming stays simple. Skip it, and you’ll be paying for de-matting before long.
If you’re reading this from the US, the cavoodle is the same dog you’d call a cavapoo, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel crossed with a Poodle. The grooming advice is identical wherever you are. And cavoodles are seriously popular here. Across the 18,376 photos from 2,099 Australian salons we analysed in June 2026, the cavoodle was the second most photographed breed in the country with 1,164 photos, behind only the poodle.
Cavoodle coat types: fleece, wool and hair
Not every cavoodle has the same coat, and knowing which one your dog has tells you how much work you’re in for. There are three broad types.
A fleece coat is soft, wavy and the most common. It’s the easiest to brush, the slowest to matt, and the type most people picture when they imagine a cavoodle.
A wool coat is tighter and more curly, closer to the poodle parent. It looks lovely and holds a teddy bear shape beautifully, but it traps loose hair and matts faster than any other type. Wool coats need the most diligent brushing.
A hair coat is straighter and flatter, closer to the cavalier parent. It sheds a little more than the other two but is generally low-maintenance to keep tidy.
Most cavoodles sit somewhere on the fleece-to-wool spectrum. If you’re not sure which you’ve got, your groomer can tell you in seconds, and it’s worth asking because it shapes your whole brushing routine.
Photo: Lei Lani Pet Spa, Terrigal NSW — via Groomably
The most popular cavoodle haircuts
When we looked at how cavoodle grooms break down by style, one cut dominated. Of the 395 style-tagged cavoodle photos in our data, the teddy bear cut accounted for 182 of them, a clear 46 percent. A full groom came next at 103 photos, and a straightforward bath-and-dry made up 75.
| Style | Cavoodle photos | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Teddy bear cut | 182 | 46% |
| Full groom | 103 | 26% |
| Bath and dry | 75 | 19% |
The teddy bear cut wins because it suits the coat so well. The soft, wavy fur holds a rounded shape, and the fluffy round face is exactly the look most cavoodle owners fall for. If you want to see what’s achievable, our cavoodle gallery and the breed page at /au/breeds/cavoodle/ are full of real finished grooms.
How often to groom a cavoodle
The short version: a professional groom every six to eight weeks, with brushing at home in between. Cavoodle coats don’t shed much, which sounds great until you realise it means loose hair stays in the coat instead of falling out. That trapped hair is what forms matts, so brushing isn’t optional, it’s the whole game.
Aim to brush three or four times a week, more if you have a wool coat. Use a slicker brush followed by a metal comb to check you’ve reached the skin, and pay close attention to the high-friction spots: behind the ears, in the armpits, around the collar and on the back legs. Those are where matts start, and once a matt forms tight against the skin it can’t be brushed out comfortably.
The puppy coat change (don’t get caught out)
Here’s the part that catches a lot of new owners. Somewhere between about six and twelve months of age, a cavoodle’s soft puppy coat is replaced by its denser adult coat. During this transition the two coats tangle together, and matting can suddenly get much worse even if your dog was easy to brush as a puppy.
This is the moment to be extra diligent, not to ease off. Brush daily through the coat change if you can, and keep up regular professional grooms. If the coat does matt badly during this phase, the kindest option is often a shorter clip to start fresh, because forcing a brush through tight matts is painful for the dog. Plenty of owners are surprised by this stage, so going in expecting it puts you well ahead.
What cavoodle grooming costs
A full groom for a cavoodle typically runs $80–110 in Australia, landing toward the higher end if the coat is thick or matted. A simple bath-and-tidy is cheaper at $50–75, and a nail trim on its own is usually $10–20.
The single biggest thing that pushes the price up is matting, because de-matting is slow, careful work and many salons add a fee for it. This is the practical reason brushing pays for itself. A well-maintained cavoodle is quick to groom and sits at the lower end of the range, while a neglected coat costs more every visit. If you want to compare groomers and prices near you, browse the full directory or use the map to find someone close.
A simple cavoodle routine that works
Pulling it together, a low-stress cavoodle grooming routine looks like this. Book a professional groom every six to eight weeks, decide on a length you like (most owners choose a teddy bear cut around half to one inch), and brush three or four times a week with a slicker and comb. Be extra vigilant during the puppy coat change. And anything health-related, from itchy skin to ear infections, is a question for your vet rather than your groomer. Stick to that rhythm and your cavoodle stays comfortable, matt-free and looking exactly like the fluffy dog you signed up for.
