In the new HBO documentaryWell Groomed, Martine Gold asks her daughter what she has planned for her poodle Ira’s next dog show.
“He’s going to be a chicken,” replies Nicole Beckmann, a competitive groomer from Ithaca, New York.
“He’s going to be a chicken?” says Gold, who adds: “You have dogs to have fun with them so why not be a little creative with them?”
How about over-the-top creative? This is the world of competitive dog grooming, where groomers use non-toxic dyes, quick scissor snips and dryers to sculpt their white poodles — the dog of choice — into dinosaurs fromJurassic Park, other pets (including chickens), and any wild designs they can come up with for a chance to win up to $5,000 at an event.
Courtesy Spacestation/Cattle Rat Productions
“I love to compete, it’s an adrenaline rush for me,” says Adriane Pope, a competitive groomer from South Carolina, whose poodle named Encore has served as a canvas for Pope to create the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland. (Pope dressed up as Alice.)
Cat Opson’s poodle Kobe on the beach.Courtesy Spacestation/Cattle Rat Productions
Angela Kumpe, a seasoned champion competitive groomer from Little Rock, Arkansas, who teaches classes on creative grooming, explains their passion. “The point of it,” she says, “is to make people smile.”
Adriane Pope and Encore.Courtesy Spacestation/Cattle Rat Productions
But there are critics of this subculture, who claim the dogs are exploited. Sterntells Salonthat in her four years spent with the groomers, “I never saw anything that I thought was directly harmful to the animals.”
source: people.com
