Page 102 - ShowSight - December 2019

Becoming: Making Our AKC Shows Less Scary... BY JACQUELYN FOGEL continued “It’s a work in progress,
and I think the rewards for everyone are substantial.”
and offer to train them in at least the trim, and hopefully add in a little about the breed standard. I knew there was an interest in this breed among competitive groomers because I had been loaning dogs to several of them and had done some minimal train- ing in the trim. I was never happy with the bichon-like styles they put on their com- petition dogs, and one competitor actu- ally told me it would be impossible to win a grooming competition with a dog in my breed-appropriate pattern because it wasn’t what the judges were looking for. That was annoying on two levels. First, who were these judges who knew so little about my breed that they thought gobs of hair was a good thing, and second, how would this novice groomer know she could not win with my trim since she had never actually learned it.
I do know that one of the top-ranked competitive groomers won a Best In Show with a Bedlington I had just finished a championship on at our National Specialty a few weeks before her grooming competi- tion, so I was pretty sure the pattern that I had put on the dog was not so far gone that she dramatically changed it for her best-in- show grooming performance.
My aha moment (actually it was an aha period of time that stretched over a few months) continued as I thought about the AKC dog show people I knew who had ven- tured slightly into the world of competitive grooming, and came back to AKC shows. That included my daughter who got a beau- tiful standard poodle ostensibly to compete in grooming competitions, but decided she would really rather compete in AKC shows where more than the hair was being evalu- ated. She felt much more satisfied when the competition was about more than a beauti- ful coat finish and the dog was adjudicated by people who were actually familiar with the poodle standard.
I also recall the hours of siting in pro- fessional handlers’ set-ups marveling at the level of skill I was seeing on a daily basis. I learned to pull hair on a wire dachshund to compete with Carlos Puig, and groom a Brittany that could compete with Kellie Miller. I learned to prepare the coat and trim a Cavalier so it looked completely nat- ural to compete against Laura King, and I learned to shave, scissor and chalk a beagle. I learned enough about rolling a Westie coat from Jan Parcel to know I did not want to do a lot of that, and just recently picked up a most amazing tip about stripping a wire
coat from Susan Atherton as we chatted at dinner after Montgomery County. There was so much knowledge out there in the AKC world, and so little of it was being shared with newcomers. I began to formu- late a plan to change that.
My first step had to be with Bedling- tons—because I have a bunch of them sit- ting around needing trims. I also knew that if a groomer learned the intricate details of a Bedlington trim on their ridiculously soft coat, they would become better over- all groomers in general. Every groomer that has worked for me has had to learn basic Bedlington, and all have told me it has made them much better groomers. I have the dogs, I have the place, and I have the training to teach the trim, so I decided to start here.
I consulted a few people in the com- petitive grooming world to ask how their seminars were structured, and what they thought an appropriate fee would be for an intense, hands-on seminar where each per- son would be able to do a guided groom on a dog I provided. All of them said this was something that was not done. Their semi- nars involved an instructor with a dog they groomed, talking their way through the trim. The average duration of those semi- nars was 2-4 hours. That was an impossible timeframe for me. It takes me 2.5 hours to put a Bedlington in pattern for a show, so I knew beginners would need a lot more time than that. Plus, I wanted the seminar to include some background on the breed and its standard, canine anatomy, basic dog-handling skills, and demonstrations of corrective grooming.
Finally, I settled on a 1.5-day seminar. The first day would be talking about the breed, and a demonstration of grooming. The second day would be grooming their dogs with me providing on-going com- mentary, critique and suggestions. Because this was a new concept and I was asking the groomers to spend a night near my facility, I opened our empty-nest home to accommo- date a sleep-over. We had done this for sev- eral groups of Russian visitors hosted by my Rotary Club, so I was confident they would be comfortable, and would appreciate not having to rent a hotel room. We provided lunch the first day and breakfast the next morning. I limited the seminar to 5 partici- pants and charged $250/each.
This seminar exceeded my expecta- tions in ways I never imagined. Four of the participants are pet groomers, and one
is a first-time Bedlington owner who does mostly performance work with her dogs. All of them were so grateful for the ability to work on a real dog and be guided and cri- tiqued in real time. Even the groomer who is an award-winning creative groomer was thrilled with the outcome of the seminar.
But a real unanticipated benefit of this seminar was the commentary that flowed when we were wrapping up and putting tools away. Three of the groomers asked if it would be possible for them to accompany me, or someone else I might know, to AKC shows and be their “bucket-bitch” (their terminology, not mine), and two expressed an interest in breeding Bedlington terriers. All three said they were so intimidated by AKC shows that they were not sure how to become involved, but after this seminar, and my obvious enthusiasm for the breed and AKC competitions, they wanted to try going with somebody and learning more about it. Before the seminar they were too scared to participate, but after they felt much more comfortable about venturing into the AKC world. Now I was having a Eureka moment!
I am planning to schedule at least 4 of these level 1 seminars a year (Bedlington hair needs time to grow), and these groom- ers and other exhibitors have asked if I can do a one-day level 2 seminar for people who have learned the basics, but need additional guidance on detail. At least 12 people have already expressed an interest in being invited to one of the upcoming seminars. We’re call- ing them Beyond-The-Basics Seminars, and I have been mulling around ideas for recruit- ing other AKC exhibitors who are experts in breeds used in grooming competitions to do something similar. They’re “doing the math” and thinking they can give up a couple of weekends a year to earn $1,000 and encour- age new people into our sport. I am also asking the AKC to consider supporting this concept and add AKC certification of com- pletion for the seminars, and keep track of a calendar of seminars around the country. It’s a work in progress, and I think the rewards for everyone are substantial.
These Beyond-the-Basics seminars will also be critical for capturing the expertise of the current group of highly skilled profes- sionals and owner-handlers whose knowl- edge will be lost If it is not passed on to the next generation. I think this is a winning idea for everyone in our sport, and for those who want to join us.
100 • ShowSight Magazine, DeceMber 2019