CA Doodle Rescue, To the RESCUE!
We lost our 15 year old Lab this year, and the house went quiet in a way a house shouldn't. Anyone who has loved a dog and then lost one knows the hole it leaves behind.
We live in San Diego, and when we were ready, we found Buddy through California Doodle Rescue, a doodle who needed a family about as much as we needed one to fill that hole. He filled it. We filmed the day we brought him home, because we had a feeling it would matter. It did, and you can watch it here.
Who California Doodle Rescue is
California Doodle Rescue is a 501(c)(3) non-profit (EIN 88-0967716) that rescues doodles and doodle mixes, goldendoodles, labradoodles, aussiedoodles, cavapoos, and the occasional purebred imposter, across the entire state. They're foster based, which means every dog waits in a real home instead of a kennel, with foster families from Sacramento and Davis down to Los Angeles, San Diego, and the Bay Area. Dogs come to them for all kinds of reasons: a family moves, an allergy shows up, money gets tight, a marriage ends, an owner passes away. The rescue gets each dog vetted, spayed or neutered, and current on shots, works on manners and leash skills in foster care, then matches them with the right adopters through an application. You can meet the dogs waiting right now.
Why doodles land here
The reasons vary, but one thread comes up again and again, and it's the one we happen to know something about: the coat. Doodle hair mats. When it mats badly and nobody has the right tools or the know-how to stay ahead of it, the coat gets shaved down to the skin, and a shaved, confused doodle looks about as sad as a dog can look. And here's the cruel part for a dog already waiting on a home: a shaved doodle can wait months longer to get adopted, because the fluffy coat is exactly what families picture when they go looking for a doodle. The dog that needs a home most ends up looking the least like the dog people came for.
What we built, and why it's personal
Matting is the exact problem we built Skip The Groomer around. Not to replace anyone's groomer, good groomers are worth their weight in gold and they handle the pros' moments, but to help families handle Tuesday, so a mat never gets bad enough that shaving is the only option. Our Detangling Treatment is a leave-in concentrate, a small amount worked into the coat with your hands and then brushed through, because sprays are mostly water and the part that actually works doesn't come out of a nozzle. And when a real mat sneaks up after a swim or a muddy afternoon, the Emergency Dematter is there to rescue it.
Why we donate: Save the Shave
So we decided to help with the part of the problem we are actually built for. We donate product to California Doodle Rescue and its foster families so they can keep their doodles' coats healthy and mat free instead of shaving them down. It matters more than it sounds. A shaved doodle can wait months longer for a home, so keeping that coat is not about looks, it is about getting a dog adopted. Keep the coat, and you keep the dog looking like the dog people fall in love with. That is what Save the Shave means to us, and here it is doing its most important job: saving dogs, not just haircuts. Every family who adopts from the rescue also goes home with Skip The Groomer product, so their new dog's coat stays healthy from day one and never lands back in a rescue over a mat.
Meet Buddy
The day we went to meet him, Kathy said the thing you always notice about rescue dogs: there's a sadness behind their eyes, because they don't understand what happened to their life. They just want to be loved and taken care of. When we met Buddy and signed the adoption contract, it asked us to promise the basics, that he'd live indoors, be walked on a leash, be fed and watered and treated like family. It's a gut punch that any of that has to be written down. Buddy has all of it now, and then some.
Look at that face. That is a dog who has no idea he was ever anything but somebody's whole world, and that is exactly how it should be. That fluffy coat is the one families picture when they picture a doodle, and it is the reason he found a home. Keeping it is the least we can do for the next Buddy waiting in a foster home right now.
The takeaway
If you take one thing from this post, take this: a doodle's coat is a commitment, not a detail, and for a rescue dog it can be the difference between waiting weeks and waiting months. Learn it early, behind the ears, the armpits, the collar line, and the base of the tail, keep a routine, and catch mats while they're small. If you ever find a mat tight to the skin or your dog seems in pain, see a professional groomer. And if you've got room in your life, a rescue will fill it. Buddy's our proof.
Frequently Asked Questions: Adopting a Rescue Doodle
Why does shaving make a doodle harder to adopt?
Families go looking for the soft, fluffy doodle coat, so a doodle that's been shaved down to the skin looks like a different dog and can sit in rescue months longer. Keeping the coat maintained instead of shaved helps these dogs get adopted faster, which is exactly why we donate to help California Doodle Rescue Save the Shave.
What is California Doodle Rescue?
It's a 501(c)(3) non-profit that rescues doodles and doodle mixes across California. It's foster based, so dogs wait in real homes while they're vetted, spayed or neutered, and worked with on manners, then adopted out through an application. You can see the dogs available now at californiadoodlerescue.org.
Does every adopter really get free product?
Yes. Every family who adopts from California Doodle Rescue goes home with Skip The Groomer product, so their new dog's coat starts out healthy and matting never gets a foothold in the first place.
How can I help California Doodle Rescue?
Follow them, foster or adopt, or donate through their website. Even sharing an adoptable dog's photo helps the right family find them. If you're ready for the commitment, adoption changes two lives at once.
Save the Shave.
Your Dog. Your Way.