over a few months) continued as I thought about the AKC dog show people I knew who had ventured slightly into the world of competitive grooming, and came back to AKC shows. That included my daughter who got a beautiful 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 evaluated. She felt much more satis- fied when the competition was about more than a beautiful 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 Car- los 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 natural 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 knowl- edge out there in the AKC world, and so little of it was being shared with newcomers. I began to formulate a plan to change that. My first step had to be with Bedling- tons—because I have a bunch of them sitting 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 groom- ers in general. Every groomer that has worked for me has had to learn basic Bedlington, and all have toldme 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 person 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 seminars involved an instructor with a dog they groomed, talking their way through the trim. The average duration of those seminars was 2-4 hours. That was an impossible time- frame 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 stan- dard, canine anatomy, basic dog-han- dling skills, and demonstrations of corrective grooming. Finally, I settled on a 1.5-day semi- nar. The first day would be talking about the breed, and a demonstration of grooming. The second day would be grooming their dogs with me pro- viding on-going commentary, cri- tique 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 accommodate a sleep-over. We had done this for several groups of Russian visitors hosted by my Rotary Club, so I was confident they would be comfortable, and would appreci- ate not having to rent a hotel room. We provided lunch the first day and breakfast the next morning. I lim- ited the seminar to 5 participants 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 critiqued in real time. Even the groomer who is an award-winning creative groom- er 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 pos- sible 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 breed- ing Bedlington terriers. All three said they were so intimidated by AKC shows that they were not sure how to become involved, but after this semi- nar, and my obvious enthusiasm for the breed and AKC competitions, they wanted to try going with some- body and learning more about it. Be- fore the seminar they were too scared to participate, but after they felt much more comfortable about venturing into the AKC world. Now I was hav- ing a Eureka moment! I am planning to schedule at least 4 of these level 1 seminars a year (Bed- lington hair needs time to grow), and these groomers 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 guid- ance on detail. At least 12 people have already expressed an interest in be- ing invited to one of the upcoming seminars. We’re calling them Beyond- The-Basics Seminars, and I have been mulling around ideas for recruiting other AKC exhibitors who are experts in breeds used in grooming competi- tions 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 encourage new people into our sport. I am also asking the AKC to consider supporting this concept and add AKC certification of completion 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 professionals and own- er-handlers whose knowledge 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.
50 • T op N otch T oys , J anuary 2020
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