This is an event that was created to help you and your dog prepare for the All American Grooming Show (August 14th-16th). A few competitive groomers have agreed to take all their combined knowledge, put it together, and create a workshop that will help you walk into the competition ring with confidence.

Let’s meet our professors:

MacKenzie Murphy

Mackensie has been a long time Groom Team USA member as well as traveled to the worlds show to represent the USA in sporting. Her knowledge is not limited to sporting, though. She has competed in all four categories: wire, all other purebred, sporting, & poodle, although the sporting class is what she is most well known for. Winner of Barkliegh’s Groomer of the Year and the winner of the $10,000 Superzoo Jackpot is a very short list of Mackensie’s achievements.

Mackenzie will be joining us as a mock Judge as well as a mentor.

Nadia Bongelli

Nadia is coming all the way from Canada, our neighbors of the north. She has been on Groom team Canada and has traveled to many shows in the US, including the Superzoo show where she won $10k in the Jackpot class with her Bedlington trim. Bedlingtons are not all that she knows, you have probably seen her next to Mackenzie with one of her English Cockers. She’s also been in the poodle class and the wire class with scoring success.

Nadia will be joining us as a mock judge as well as a mentor.

Nicole Hillison

Nicole is your host of this workshop. Widely known for carrying around a Westie, she has also dabbled in poodle, all other purebred, and sporting class. She was nominated for Up & Coming Groomer of the year in 2017 and has been floating around the US teaching hand stripping on both terriers and sporting coats.

Nicole will be hosting this workshop and walking around as a mentor.

What is a mock competition?

Nicole spends a lot of time helping new competitors find their rhythm for the Chicago local trade show and has found it difficult to create an environment that is comparable to the real competition. The goal in a mock competition is to create an environment that will help you better prepare for the real deal.

How does it work?

All our attendees will grow out their dogs with enough coat to work on and make a difference in the ‘ring’. The salon will be open for prepping; we ask that you clean up after yourself to make for a good experience for the next person. We will check in and then once everyone is ready and checked in, we will start the clock. During this time, you will work on your dog.

There will be two levels of difficulty: Novice and Rising Star.

Novice is for those who have never competed before or are still in entry. This class will be given cards for you to use to indicate you would like some help from a mentor. You can choose one of the three or grab the first available. The clock will still run to give you give you a feeling of the time you would have in competition. Whatever your originally allotted time is during competition for your breed you will have a half hour added on, to give some wiggle room for the instructions during time competition. Keep in mind that you will need to subtract a half an hour to your time when you enter for All American Grooming Show. Once your time block is up, it is scissors down and your mock judges will go over your dogs as they would in a real competitions. They will help teach you to stack your dogs and move around the dog respectfully so the judge can inspect your dog with ease. Once judging is done, you will relax your dogs for mock awards and then we will do very thorough critiques to help you prepare for your competition in August.

Rising Star is for those who are a bit more experienced. They are typically in the intermediate division or maybe you just got to open. This class is designed to help body double and make sure your dog is in the best condition come August. You will go through the normal rules of competition, have normal time set, and you won’t get help until scissors are down. During judging, feel free to ask for help like if you should be stacking your dog differently or standing a certain way to help you prepare for those higher levels. Once mock awards are done, then you will join the crowd for thorough critiques.

We encourage everyone to listen in on critiques as this is a learning experience for everyone.

Schedule

9 am - Check in for the competitions begins

10 am - Competitions start

12:15 pm - Scissors down; the last time frame is done

1:30 pm - Awards and lunch

5 pm - We close up workshop

We can help you get prepped thanks to our sponsor BioGroom, but you will be responsible for supplying your own table and grooming arm.

Thank you BioGroom!!

Outside the Lines with Model Dogs

Maybe the traditional breed trims just aren’t your thing. Maybe you were hoping to color outside the lines a little bit. You’re in luck! We also have the pleasure of having Alyssa Kasiba for a creative model dog Workshop and competition. Bring your model dog all brushed out; bring your glitter, your colors, and your tools to create a masterpiece you can cherish. Alyssa will be walking around help you navigate your way through the world of creative. She can help you with color schemes, over all design help, tool maintenance; really, she’s kind of an expert. Simultaneously the model dog competition will be going and you’re welcome to take a look and see how some of the other competitors achieve their designs!

Schedule

9 am - Competition & Workshop check in

10 am - Workshop in session; Competition Starts

1 pm - Model Dog Competition ‘tools down’ & lunch break

2 pm - Workshop back in session

5 pm - Workshop complete

Alyssa Kasiba

You probably recognize Alyssa from the show Pooch Perfect where she was the runner up. Her fabulous creative designs can also be seen at most trade shows and on the cover of Groomer 2 Groomer. She has won many placements as well as many people’s choice awards with her designs. We’re pretty sure there isn’t anything she can’t transform!

*If you don’t want to use a community table, we suggest that you bring a grooming table to have your own independent space.