I have always had poodles and right now I have a standard and a mini. Bella (my standard) goes to the groomer every six weeks and I groom her in between as well as do her nails so she really gets done every 3 weeks. When we first got her we were doing all the grooming ourselves but I wanted her to become accustomed to someone else.

Ripley is my mini and I have only ever groomed him myself. He is so quick and easy to do (he gets his baths in the kitchen sink ) that I can practically have him finished in the amount of time it would take me to drive to the groomer's and back.