@daniel001 I am autistic, which is relevant here because I interpret things very literally and require clear instruction. I get this request often with doodles and always ask for clarification because really, what do they mean by that?
By and far, I would say 90% of them don’t even know what they mean. When I ask, they look confused and just say “just not like a poodle, yknow?” To which I reply “I’m sorry, but I’m really not sure exactly what you mean. Your dog is part poodle, so because of their bone structure they’ll look at least a little like a poodle just in the way they’re built. There are 7 standard haircuts for poodles and they all have very different styles. What part of the poodle look are you trying to avoid?” and I usually just get … nothing.
I try to ask clarifying questions like “so I know you probably don’t want the shaved face and feet, do you like a topknot here? What do you like for the tail — we can keep it close and low maintenance or if you’d like we can leave some length.” but I just get the same “yeah, just don’t poodle them!”
We do doggy daycare also and we’ve found the easiest thing to do is recommend what we call the Toby cut. Toby is a daycare goldendoodle who is there almost every day and keeps a bit of length on the body and legs (I believe he gets a 4), some length on the tail (scissor the tail), and a teddy bear face. We make it clear that Toby’s cut is just a pet clip that his owner and us worked to come up with together and there is no standard name for it as it’s just a mixed breed haircut, and we explain he does keep a lot of poodle aspects like the long tail and ears and looks a lot fluffier and maybe poodle-esque when freshly groomed. And in return, we get “yeah that’s awesome! Do the Toby cut just don’t poodle my doodle!”
