Maltipoo Haircuts: The 8 Best Styles, Explained by Groomers

Few breeds give you more styling range than a Maltipoo. The Maltese-Poodle coat is soft, low-shedding, and grows continuously, which means it can wear everything from a plush teddy bear to a sleek summer cut, and it needs a haircut on a regular cycle either way. This guide walks through the 8 best Maltipoo haircuts groomers actually do, the lengths behind them, and how to pick the right one for your dog and your brushing routine. For the breed's full grooming picture, frequency, costs, and tools, see our Maltipoo grooming guide.

Maltipoo Haircut Styles at a Glance

1. The Teddy Bear Cut: the Maltipoo Signature

If you've seen a Maltipoo on a greeting card, this is the cut. An even ½ to 1 inch over the body with a fully rounded, plush face, fluffy ears, and a soft, stuffed-animal outline. It works on every Maltipoo coat type, wavy, loose-curled, or tight-curled, and it photographs like nothing else.

Maintenance is real but manageable: brushing 3 to 4 times a week, with extra attention behind the ears and in the armpits where the soft coat mats first. Grooms every 4 to 6 weeks keep the round face from growing into the eyes. For the technique behind the style, our step-by-step teddy bear cut guide covers how groomers build the look.

2. The Puppy Cut: Easiest to Live With

The puppy cut keeps the same even body length as the teddy bear, usually a #1 or #2 comb attachment (½ to 1 inch), but trims the face shorter and more natural instead of sculpting a round head. Less hair around the mouth means less food staining; shorter hair near the eyes means fewer tear-stain tangles.

This is the cut groomers most often recommend for first Maltipoo owners: it looks adorable, forgives a missed brushing day, and grows out gracefully. Confusingly, some salons use "puppy cut" and "teddy bear cut" interchangeably, our puppy cut guide explains the terminology mess and how to ask for exactly what you want.

3. The Summer Cut (Kennel Cut)

A smooth ⅜ to ½ inch all over, typically leaving the face and tail slightly fuller so the dog keeps its Maltipoo character. It's the practical choice for hot climates, dogs that swim, and owners who want the longest possible stretch between brushing sessions.

One caution: short is fine, but don't shave to the skin for summer: a very short coat still shields the skin from sun. Keep at least ⅜ inch of coverage.

4. The Lamb Cut

A shorter body with noticeably fuller, column-shaped legs, borrowed from Poodle styling. The contrast gives a polished, show-adjacent silhouette while keeping the torso easy to maintain. The trade-off is the legs: fuller leg coat means more brushing (4 to 5 times a week) and more careful drying, since damp leg coat felts quickly.

5. The Town & Country

A close cousin of the lamb cut: clipped-short body, rounded (rather than columnar) legs, and a full face. It reads tidier than a teddy bear at the body while keeping personality in the face and legs. A good middle ground for owners who like leg style but found lamb-cut brushing too demanding.

6. The Long, Flowing Coat

Left at 2 inches or longer, a well-kept Maltipoo coat is gorgeous, soft waves with the Maltese silkiness showing through. It is also, without exaggeration, a daily-brushing commitment. Skip two days and the undercoat friction points felt up; skip a week and you're choosing between hours of dematting or a reset cut. Our matting prevention guide is required reading before choosing this style.

7. The Shaved / Reset Cut

Nobody chooses this one: the coat does. When a Maltipoo arrives matted to the skin, the only humane option is clipping under the mats with a short blade (#7F or shorter) and starting over. It looks dramatic, but the coat regrows fully in 2 to 3 months, and it beats hours of painful dematting. If your groomer recommends a reset, our guide on safely de-matting a dog explains why brushing out severe matting isn't the kind option.

8. Face Styles: Round, Clean, or Visor

Whatever the body length, the face is its own decision:

• Round (teddy bear) face: the classic, full cheeks scissored into a circle, fuller ears blending in.
• Clean face: shorter muzzle and cheeks, less staining, easier eating, sportier look.
• Visor: hair over the eyes trimmed into a short awning so the dog can see without losing the soft expression.

Tear staining is the practical factor: if your Maltipoo stains heavily, shorter around the eyes is easier to keep clean and bright.

The "Maltipoo Poodle Cut": Borrowing From the Poodle Parent

Because half the Maltipoo's heritage is Poodle, owners often bring in a photo of a Poodle clip and ask for it by name. Most of them translate, but the coat sets limits worth knowing before you book:

• Lamb clip, translates well. Short body with fuller legs is flattering on a Maltipoo and needs no special coat density. This is the most common "Poodle cut" request that works exactly as pictured.
• Clean face (shaved muzzle), translates, but decide deliberately. The traditional shaved Poodle face is achievable with a #10 blade and it dramatically reduces tear staining and food buildup. It also makes a Maltipoo look like a small Poodle rather than a teddy bear, which surprises some owners at pickup.
• Continental and other pattern clips, rarely worth it. These depend on the Poodle's dense, springy curl to hold a sharp scissor line. A Maltipoo's softer, wavier coat blurs the pattern within a couple of weeks, so you pay show-clip prices for a look that does not hold.
• Shaved feet and a pompon tail, optional add-ons. Both are pure Poodle grammar and both pair fine with any Maltipoo body length if you like the look.

The reliable rule: borrow Poodle lengths and face styles freely, and be cautious about borrowing Poodle patterns. For the full catalogue of what each clip actually involves, see our guide to Poodle cuts.

Which Maltipoo Haircut Should You Choose?

• Less than 15 minutes of brushing a week: summer cut or puppy cut.
• A few sessions a week: teddy bear or town & country.
• Daily brusher: lamb cut or the long coat, you've earned it.
• Recovering from matting: reset cut now, then a puppy cut as it grows out.

For a broader look at how these styles apply across breeds, and what coat types can wear which cuts, see our full dog grooming styles guide. The same eight styles run across every doodle breed, laid out side by side in our doodle haircuts guide.

The At-Home Kit That Keeps a Maltipoo Mat-Free

Whichever style you pick, the coat between grooms is your job, and the difference between "brushing happened" and "brushing worked" mostly comes down to tools. Three owner-grade ones cover a Maltipoo; our slicker brush guide has the full professional rankings if you want to go deeper.

For Groomers: Make Every Maltipoo Consistent

Maltipoo clients are style clients, they picked the breed for the look, and they notice when this groom doesn't match the last one. GroomBoard stores each dog's exact style, comb length, face shape, ear fullness, problem areas, in the pet profile, so any groomer on the team reproduces the same cut, and automated SMS reminders keep clients on the 4 to 6 week cadence that keeps the coat workable. See how it works as grooming salon software. Start your free 7-day trial →