I think the hair being long on the tails looks super cute, it's what I'm doing with Rizzo
My pup gets super matted on his front legs and tummy too, and also hates when I start brushing them...The rest of his body he is fine with??? Anyway, what I do is I keep his "arm-pits" shaved down, and I shave them with a lady shaver, it's super quiet and small enough to just do small bits at a time. Whenever he gets a matt that I can't brush out with spray in conditioner and a comb then I'll use the shaver and shave it out. It doesn't look obvious this way and it keeps him a little bit calmer during the process...plus I don't have to worry about cutting him with the grooming shears when get gets all wriggly. What kind of coat does Poppy have? Cottony or Silky? If it's more towards the silky side, I'd reccomend not putting leave in/spray in conditioner in her hair, it seems that the cleaner Rizzo's fur is the less it gets matted up and he is more on the silky side. Good luck with what you do choose