I am back from another great weekend at a grooming competition. Every time I go I am so encouraged and renewed to come back to work and make every pet look and feel their very best. Seeing old friends, winning awards, buying new tools and learning new tricks really does something to the groomer's soul.
Well, I was quite successful in this competition. It began Friday morning when I entered the ring with Jake, the Irish Terrier.
He was his usual feisty self, so much so that the judges commented on his silly antics and noted I had endless patience. While he can be fresh at times, I love the bond we have and I wonder if his being so troublesome in front of the judges doesn't give us a bit of an edge when he comes out looking so good at the end of the competition. We'll take whatever we can get! We won second place in the Hand-Stripped class. Good boy, Jake!
Friday afternoon was Rosy's turn. This was her maiden voyage into the competition ring, and I am very thankful her mother put up with all the extra hair leading up to this show so I could use her. Rosy is a Labradoodle.
She did wonderfully for her first time out. Sometimes all the excitement and people watching can be a little overwhelming to a first time competitor, both dog and human alike, but she took it like the champion I knew she would be. Our class was rather large, almost 20 entries, and we received 3rd place. Unfortunately I did not know that all dogs were given the same amount of time regardless of size, so I feel our placement was quite a success when the first place dog could not have weighed more than 4 pounds! Thank you again, Miss Rosy and mom!
Lastly, I competed on Saturday afternoon with my Standard Poodle, ZZ. He looked like the abominable snowman heading into the ring.
I was very excited about this class, as I had won first place the last two years. ZZ was wonderful as usual, and I felt so good throughout the class. I can literally feel myself improving as I compete with him. I am able to take past critiques that I have received and correct them while I'm in the ring as opposed to before I would not see certain things until I had finished the dog. We placed third in a class of almost 40 dogs, and while it's not first, I am happy that we were in the placements.
That sums up my weekend at the Meadowlands in New Jersey. I can't wait for my next show!
