Abstract Competition Groom Expo 2015

The Abstract Competition was once again held Saturday night at the Best in Show Dinner.

We all gathered in the hallway outside of the Ballroom waiting to be lined up to go in.

I took that opportunity to go around and try to get a picture of all of the dogs.

Sadly, I was so worried about having enough time to do this that I forgot to check the setting on my camera, so some of the pictures came out a little blurry.

I also missed getting a picture of a couple of the dogs because they arrived as we were being lined up to go into the ballroom.

Here are the pictures that I did get.

I am sorry that I did not get everyone's name. 

This one was a dragon theme.

Sorry the picture is blurry.

This abstract design was taken from the groomers dress.

 This is a kitty.

I am sorry it is so blurry.

This was a very pretty, laid back kitty.

The design was pretty cool.

I wish that it showed up better.

I am sorry that I don't remember the theme behind this abstract design.

I loved this one.

You can't see it, but the black design also goes down one side of the neck.

This is one side of the design on  this Poodle.

This is the other side.

Very simple and pretty cool.

That is one way to put abstract on a dog without messing up the cut.

This was a different take on abstract.

I thought that it was very pretty.

There were two other dogs whose pictures I missed getting.

There were 16 entries in total.

We all took turns walking down the runway and presenting our dogs to the Judge.

After we had walked past the Judge twice we went back into the hallway.

They called out the names of the top 6 dogs that the Judge wanted to see again.

Guess what?

I was one of the six!!

I couldn't believe it.

Below are the top six that the Judge wanted to see again.

Oh, by the way, I already knew who was going to place.

I was sure who the top three were.

The designs were so good.

I was pretty sure who was going to be 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.

I was also sure that I was not one of them, but I was very happy to be in the top six. :-)

This dog was groomed by Lori Craig.

The theme was Dream catcher.

Isn't that work amazing?

This dog was groomed by 
Misty Gieczys.

Her theme was an abstract design using the Breast cancer ribbon design.

Very pretty.

This dog was groomed by Angela Kumpe.

I don't know what to say other then Angela is an amazing creative groomer.

The next set of pictures are of my guy 'Hunter'.

His pictures were also blurry, so I am using pictures that I took in the parking garage right before the competition and pictures when we got back to the hotel room that night.

In the parking garage.

I wanted an Irish theme but messed up the design I wanted to copy onto his coat, so I ended up making up my own design on this side of his body.

Maybe this picture shows it a little better.

Maybe not...

The other side was a simple shamrock.

Ignore the look on his face, he could not understand why I was standing him on the bed to take a picture. lol

This dog was groomed by Cindy Oliver.

I think that she said that her design was one she got off of the internet.

Beautiful work!

This dog was groomed by Adriane Pope.

It was a stunning design.

So, you want to know who won right?

1st Place winner. 

                                                     2nd Place winner

                                                                          3rd Place.

Yes, me!!

I placed!

Third place!

I could not believe it.

The Judge told me that she loved the simplicity of my design.

Oh, I was right about two of the other winners.

I just knew that they were going to place as soon as I saw their dogs.

I did not predict that I was going to win. lol

But, I am very happy that I did!

Another Expo...

... has come and gone.

Groom Expo in Hershey has come and gone again.

Jess and I had a great time this year.

We were very busy at Groom Expo this year.

We arrived Thursday night and got settled into our hotel room.

I was competing with my red Standard Poodle 'Hunter' this year in the Abstract grooming competition.

As I was checking into the hotel, the manager was making small talk and was telling some stories of how some hotel guests had let their dogs destroy some of the rooms earlier this summer.

She also informed me that if a dog destroyed anything in the room there would be an extra charge of a '$150 pet damage fee' added to the bill.

I wasn't worried because we never leave our dog unattended in the room...ever.

I even wrap my dogs leash around my arm before going to bed to make sure that I wake up if my dog wakes and gets off the bed.

So, we get the card key and go to our room.

Now, let me just say, we have been staying at this particular hotel in Hershey for the last 7 or 8 years, and for the most part the stay has always been good.

Is it the best hotel?

No, not even close really, but the rooms have always been neat and clean, and they allow dogs!

While checking in, the hotel manager had also mentioned that the hotel had remodeled the first floor rooms over the winter and were not going to allow dogs on the first floor do to the new bedding, but in the end they had to, because a RV show was going on at the same time as the expo and all of their rooms were filled.

I guess my idea of a remodel is much different than the hotel managers idea.

We were given a room on the first floor.

We walked in the room and stopped.

The new bedding was all white except for a brownish section of the top cover that was at the end of the bed.

Who puts all that white bedding in a hotel?

But that wasn't what really made us stop, or what made me take pictures and then go right back down to the office.

The hotels idea of a remodel was to change the bedding and that's all!

That was okay.

I didn't really care what color the bedding was as long as it was clean.

There in lay the problem!

The room was filthy!

The floor was so stained.

The carpet had not been vacuumed.

There was spilled cereal still on the floor.

The chair and ottoman were also covered in stains like the carpet.

(The lighting in this picture is bad.)

This is the white coverlet on top of the bed.

It is a little hard to see in this picture, but there is a large dull yellow round spot that was right in the middle of the coverlet.

This is the brownish piece on the bottom of the coverlet at the bottom of the bed.

You can clearly see the stain on this cover.

I was not going to have my dog blamed for all of these stains.

I was also not about to sleep in that bed.

So, I took pictures right away and then headed down to the office.

I very nicely explained the condition I found the room and told them that I had taken pictures and did not want my dog blamed for all of the stains in the room after we checked out.

The manager apologized right away and sent someone up to clean up the room.

Of course they could not do anything about the stains on the carpet and furniture, but all of the bedding was changed.

The manager had also looked up the history of the room to see which maid was to have supposedly cleaned that room.

She also looked up the last person to use the room.

It has been a family with three children and two dogs.

There is a good chance that we will be staying at different hotel next year.

The next day was Friday.

I was competing in the Rescue Clip-in at 2pm, so Jess and I had about 3 hours to shop in the trade show before the competition.

The Rescue clip-in competition was held in the parking garage bathing area.

The lighting is horrible.

The bathing area is set up in the back corner of the hotels parking garage with only four spot lights to light up the place.

If you placed in this competition you moved up to the winners circle  Rescue Round-up competition on Sunday in the main ballroom.

All of the groomers competing pick a number and that number is assigned to a rescue dog.

I picked the number three.

As I walked over to find the dog I would be grooming, I noticed that a couple was standing to the side with two very large Airedales.

They couldn't possibly be part of the rescues.

I walked over to the  large group of rescuers and a lot of smaller dogs.

None of them had my number.

I turned to the couple with the Airedales.

I thought to myself; 'oh good grief, I know one of those large Airedales is going to have my number.' 

Don't get me wrong.

I like Airedales, even though the ones that I have groomed over the years were not always the best behaved, and a lot of the ones that I had groomed seemed to always come in matted.

Not only that, but the couple of Airedales that were regulars got 'owner requested grooms'.

Meaning that were not groomed to breed standard.

I was having a small panic attack.

I was racking my brain going over the correct pattern in my head.

Was I remembering correctly?

The Airedales were part of an Airedale rescue.

The older couple were the people who were fostering them.

When I took the dog from the foster, she told me that he was very sweet but that he was a leaner on the grooming table.

Goody.

We all love a large dog to lean on us while trying to groom it. lol

She also proudly announced that she had bathed him the day before, so he was all ready to be groomed.

I informed her that bathing was part of the competition.

She seemed concerned.

What did that mean?

The dog was not good for the bath?

He turned out to be a very sweet dog. 

Yes, he leaned a little but I was able to get him to stop.

He was also in good shape with no matting, but even though he had just been bathed, he was still filthy.

The bath was quick because the Airedales hair soaped up so nicely and he was very good in the tub. 

Unfortunately there were not enough HV dryers to go around.

I had to dry him with a stand dryer.

I kid you not....I have not used a stand dryer in almost 15 years!

I hate them.

With a passion!

And let me just say, after using a stand dryer to dry that entire Airedale straight from the tub....

I still hate them! lol

It did not help that three of the six legs that hold up the dryer were so loose that every time I moved the dryer around it almost crashed to the floor.

It was an experience trying to dry an Airedale that wanted to jump off the table and keeping a big dryer from falling to the floor at the same time.

On top of all that, a groomer that was behind me was having a difficult time with an elderly Poodle that was trying to bite her.

I got really tired of listening to her scold that Poodle the whole time instead of working with it.

Every time she yelled at it, she made my dog jerk.

That's a whole other story.

On top of not being 100% sure that I was doing the proper breed cut, I realized that I had forgotten to bring my thinning shears with me.

At one point the Judge was right behind me watching me scissor the face.

All I could think was; 'she is probably wondering why in the world is this groomer using scissors on this Airedales face instead of using thinning shears?'

Well, I was not surprised that I did not place.

I was sure that I had somehow messed up the pattern on the Airedale.

The groomer that groomed the other Airedale that had come with mine won 1st place.

Her dog looked great!

Even though my Airedale had more hair, her Airedales hair had a beautiful texture and finished look.

The foster couple that had brought the Airedales were very pleased with  how both dogs turned out.

After giving the Airedale back, my daughter and I went back into the bathing area to clean up and collect my tool box.

As we were cleaning the judge came over to me.

She told me how she judges the competition.

She said that as she watches us groom she narrows it down to five of the top grooms, then she picks 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners.

She told me that I was in the running to place in the top three until she did the hands on judging.

She told me that between the two Airedales, the one that won first place had the better finished look to the coat, but that my Airedale was 'spot on'.

That made me feel good.

I had remembered the breed standard cut correctly!

Anyway, it turned out that one of the groomers that had placed in the rescue clip-in already had a spot in the winner circle rescue competition on Sunday, so as her 4th place pick she was asking me if I would like to compete again on Sunday in the Winners Circle Rescue round-up.

Of course I said yes! :-)

I am sorry that I don't have any pictures of the Airedale.

My daughter tried to take some on her phone, but the lighting in the garage was so bad the pictures look awful.

We forgot to bring my camera that day.

On Saturday it was Jessica's turn to compete in the second Rescue clip-in.

I was looking forward to just sitting with Hunter and watching the competition.

My angle was killing me.

The tendinitis in my angle decided to act up a few days before Hershey and I was once again wearing the silly boot.

While my daughter was setting up her table the judge approached me again.

She had been called upstairs to one of the classes and wanted to know if I would help out with the competition since I had competed the day before and knew how things were run.

She would be back in time to do the judging.

There was someone else in charge, I was just helping.

Jessica's rescue dog ended up being a matted Westie.

He was very sweet but very hyper.

She was able to dematt him and do the Westie pattern on him. 

Jessica did not place either, but she did a great job on a dog that fought for everything.

This was one of his calmer moments.

By the time Jess returned him to the rescue, her arms and side were covered in scratch marks from him constantly trying to jump off the table and Jess holding him to keep him calm.

Right after the second Rescue clip-in was finished, it was time to get Hunter ready for the Abstract competition Saturday night. 

We had about 2 hours to get him bathed, dried and ready.

No dinner for us till after the competition.

I will post pictures of the Abstract competition tomorrow.

Oh, one other thing...

I met several groomers at Hershey who came up to me and told me that they read my blog.

That was so very nice of them.

I wish I remembered all of their names but I am the worst at remembering names.

Sorry.

It was very nice to meet you all.

I hope you had a good time at the expo. :-)

Pet Peeve

Dear Pet Customer,

     I have a little pet peeve I need  to get off of my chest today.

     When I called yesterday with your appointment reminder for the following day, you asked if I could have your dogs grooming finished by noon because you had made plans for 1pm and must have your dog back no later than noon to get to your other appointment.

     There was only one small problem. Your dogs appointment was for noon! You wanted to bring your dog in by 11am so I could have it for you by the needed time out. You got very upset with me when I informed you that I already had other dogs slated for 11am, and other dogs that had earlier appointments were slatted to be finished by noon.

     You were adamant that you could not move your other appointment and there was no one else available to pick up your dog. Also that you would not be available to pick up your dog till long after our closing time if I did not have your dogs grooming finished by noon. We were also booked too far out to move your appointment.

     You have been a long time customer, so we went out of our way to call another customer to switch appointment times so that you could bring your dog in earlier, so that I could have her finished by the noon time that you so badly needed.

     Sadly, you were 25 minutes late for your new appointment time. You once again got upset with me when I informed you that I would still make every effort to have your dog finished by noon, but that I would no longer promise or guarantee that she would be finished right at noon, because I had now lost 25 minutes of grooming time. I would also not promise to stay open until you were able to pick up later that evening. I assured you that I would most likely have her finished on time, but I did not like rushing your dogs groom.

     You left your dog in my care. I groomed her, she was a good girl, and had her finished by 11:30pm. Well before your needed time. You were called right away to let you know that your dog was ready to pick up. You answered and said  that you were on your way.

     Noon came.....you did not.
     You were called again at 12:15pm, no answer.
     12:30pm came....you did not.
     Again you were called, no answer.
     One o'clock, two o'clock.....your dog was still waiting. I was fuming.

     Two thirty came and so did you. Calmly walking into my shop with your cell phone to your ear. (another pet peeve...don't get me started) With a big smile you asked if your dog was ready.

     Ready?!?!?! REALLY!!!!!! Yes, your dog was ready. She was ready at 11:30am when we called you, and noon, and one, and two. She has BEEN ready for three hours!!! (No, I did not say that to you even though I wanted to) I did say to you; 'Yes she has been ready since 11:30am when we called you and told you she was ready. I thought you needed her by noon because you had another appointment you needed to get to,' in as polite a manner as I could muster. 'Oh, my plans changed, you didn't need to have her done by noon,' you informed me while still on your phone. 'So I thought that I wouldn't rush you and give you extra time.'

     There was just one problem with the extra time you decided to give me for the grooming. You never bothered to notify me!

     Dear customer don't ask me for any more favors in the future. Your bridge has been burnt to ashes, the ashes have washed away, and there is no more wood to build another bridge.

     Oh, one other thing...don't make other plans at the same time your dog has an appointment. She does not deserve to be rushed through her appointment because you can't manage your day better.
                                                                                                                      Thank you

This scenario has happened more times than I can count over the years.

It happened twice last week.

Pet Peeve: Don't demand that your dog be finished by a specific time if you have no intention on picking up by that time!

Yes, I will continue to do favors for my customers.

Most of them are great and very grateful when we help them out.

It's just those few...... 

 

Tip Follow Up

This is a follow up to my last tip post about the small light and the telescoping magnet.

I have been using them both and love them.

I have used the telescoping magnet to pick up my comb numerous times.

Yes, I tend to drop my comb a lot.

What I love the most is, that I don't have to step away from the dog I am grooming for even a second, or even take my hand away for the few seconds that it would take to bend over and pick up the comb, I can keep hands on the dog at all times and reach with this magnet to pick up my comb.

I even used it once to pick up my scissors when I dropped them.

Okay, so much for that, I like that tool. :)

As for the light.

I wasn't so sure about the light.

I knew what I wanted it to do and help with but I was not sure it would work. 

So, did it do what I wanted?

Yes!

The light worked great lighting up the underbelly to see what I was clipping.

It is small enough that it did not get in my way.

It also gave off a good amount of light.

I could also stand the light up and aim at areas under the dog or between the legs that are normally  in the shadows when I scissor.

I also placed the light behind the dog to have the light shine in between the back legs to see better while scissoring.

I found that this light did not heat up while it was on.

So, no worries about a dog possibly sitting down on, or stepping on a hot light.

Just thought that I would share. :-)

Frustrated...

As groomers we all have dealt with being thrown under bus by a Veterinarian that can't come up with any better diagnosis than to 'blame the groomer.'

The groomer did this or the groomer did that.

I guess in hindsight our shop has been pretty lucky, and have not been blamed by Vets very much over the years.

I did send a customer to their Vet once after I found something that I thought needed to be checked, only to have the Vet tell the owner that it must have been something the groomer did during the grooming.

Thankfully the 'something' that I found on the dog, I found at check-in while the owner was still there, before I groomed the dog.

The owner actually called me to tell me that the Vet tried to blame me.

I can't for the life of me remember what the Vet ended up saying had caused the issue with the dog.

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago my daughter took her Bichon into our Vet because he was favoring one of his eyes, and the whites of his eye was very red and irritated.

Our Vet was on vacation so she saw the stand in Vet.

He diagnosis it as a form of pink eye and gave my daughter medicine for the eye for 5 days.

Five days go by and her Bichon is still favoring the eye, so she called to ask if she should continue the medicine for a few more days.

The answer was yes.

Fast forward about a week and a half and the eye is a little better but still a little red and irritated looking, so my daughter takes her Bichon in for our regular Vet to check the eye and see if he had a different diagnosis.

So, did he agree with the pink eye diagnosis or have a new one?

Oh, he had a new diagnosis alright!

A couple as a matter of fact.

The first one; my daughter was probably not keeping the hair out of her dogs eyes and it was causing them to become irritated.

 This is Cooper.

This is the way he looks all of the time.

My daughter never lets his hair grow into his eyes.

She trims around his eyes every one to two weeks.

This dog never has hair in his eyes!

My daughter made sure that the Vet  knew that 'hair in the eyes' could not possibly be the problem.

Sooo, without blinking an eye, the Vet came up with a new diagnosis.

My daughter was bathing her dog too much and the shampoo she was using was irritating the eyes.

(Now remember, only one eye was having a problem) 

Really!?!?

We are now blaming the groomer right to their face??

My daughter once again set him straight.

She told him that she had been bathing her dogs every  week for their entire lives with no problems and had never gotten any shampoo in any of their eyes.

Plus the fact that her Bichon had not started favoring his eye till four days after the bath.

Nothing more was said.

My daughter was given a different medicine and left, but she was fuming.

She was sure that our Vet did not believe her about not getting any shampoo in the eyes.

Our Vet had blamed the groomer, and she was the groomer of her own dog!

My question is....if a Vet does not know why something is going on with a dog why can't they just say;  "I am sorry, I am not sure why the eye is irritated but lets try this medicine and see if we can clear it up."

Is it that hard to admit that part of Veterinary medicine is a guessing game?

Believe me, over the years I could have thrown several Vets under the bus for things that they had done wrong with some of my customers dogs.

I am proud to say that I try to be professional and not bad mouth a customers Vet if I don't agree with how they are advising my customer.

Instead I will just suggest that they get a second opinion to see if a second Vet agrees.

Do Vets take a course on how to blame the groomer in Veterinary School?

I wonder....

Sorry, rant over.