Show Ring Standards for Everyday Groomers

By Amy Fernandez

It’s both funny and surprising when regular people suddenly discover that our little purebred world just might know a little bit about dogs. My favorite experience is taking a lifelong pet person to their first dog show. They see both the behind the scenes work that goes into that runway model look in the ring. Better yet is their reaction to the quality and efficiency of the dog care products for sale.  They are never going back to the big box store alternative.

Our world has been maligned and discounted by the mainstream for so many years that it seems like regular dog people are making big discoveries about things that have been part of dog culture forever.

Here’s a striking recent example. The Sunday Times business section recently ran a cover story on innovations in the dog grooming industry. I was curious. But a few paragraphs into the article, it was clear that is not the case. Here’s what’s new. Suddenly, groomers began offering real grooming, not the assembly line wash, blow, buzz, and go. That approach has ruined plenty of coats, but apparently, owners have belatedly realized this fact.

A real Poodle trim demands hours of detail work. And groomers have taken advantage of that reality to charge prices commensurate with the time. That’s particularly ironic when you consider the nasty media comments about show Poodle trimming that have become inseparable from mainstream dog show coverage.

But the best part of the story was the discussion of hand stripping. Really? Wire coats offer wonderful advantages; they don’t shed, they are protective, and they also repel water and dirt. Breeding in this coat texture was no small feat. And maintaining it is an equal challenge. We know this part. The disconnected world of mainstream owners apparently just realized that clipping their beloved wire-haired terriers has ruined countless coats.

Better late than never. They are now paying professional groomers upwards of $3,000 a session to hand strip a hard coat. It’s a tedious job, and well, if the owners have the money, what the hell.

Ironically, it was long believed that professional groomers lacked the skillset for genuine breed-specific grooming. It seems like they’re motivated now. Equally ironic is the fact that so many professional handlers have opted for shortcuts rather than putting in the hours to properly maintain a terrier coat. We live in strange times.

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Posted by Liz on Apr 28 2026. Filed under Current Articles, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.