nouvelles - 18/09/2011 GROOMANIA & World Team Grooming CC 2011 - Belgique
par Karl DonvilGroomania 2011 hosts World Team Grooming Championship 2011
After the big rehearsal last year it looks like the Groomania team was ready to host the World Team Grooming Championship 2011 in Kortrijk on 16-18 september. The company Transgroom is the spirit behind it all. The offer a whole team of workers to arrange everything in the best possible way. While Darren is the manager of the company, it is Kitty who takes care of this event.
They offered a full 3 day program starting on Friday with demonstrations and seminars given by the best groomers one can find. They were very well presented. The TV crew recorded everything. People could attend the seminars in a special part of the hall, apart from the competition area. On Saturday there were more seminars to follow but it was also time for the Groomania International grooming competition attended by competitors from all over Europe and even outside. Sunday started with “model dogs”, a competition mostly attended by children. They were given a model dog to trim and turn into something nice according to a certain breed, but it could as well be a fantasy. Lovely and amazing to see how passionate some are and what they are able to perform. At the same tim the Groomania competition for Beginners took place. But the apotheosis came around two o’clock at the start of the World Team Grooming Competition. Each National team had one team member specialized in a discipline, Handstripping, Pure Breeds, Spaniels and Poodles. It was France who finally won.
Although very well organized I have two comments. There was not an official catalog with all the participants and some explanation. That is why I cannot tell you how many participants were in competition, who participated in what, what were their nationalities etc.
Another and much more important comment is the fact that on Sunday for the World Championship, the poor dogs were on the table for more than 4 hours. I have no problems with trimming dogs as they adore in general to be trimmed if done professionally. But if they need to stand on their feet for so long without moving, on a table and without a break to stretch the legs, drink some water and make a pipi, then there is something terribly wrong with the rules for such a competition. The judging took much too long and after that there was the deliberation and proclamation. For this and in the interest of the Grooming competitions, think in the interest of the animals first and change the rules. Take care there is a way to let the dogs go out for a few minutes, after maximum two hours, and certainly take care they can drink.
I was nicely surprised by the podium. Not only was it very nice but large enough to hold the dogs but it had two steps for each place, the dog on top and the trophies, flowers and gifts one step lower. This was so convenient for the photo’s as now one sees the dog completely and also the trophies and gifts from the sponsors. Besides that there was each time a new plate indicating the category. That could perhaps be somewhat larger for the audience but again it was very convenient for the photo’s.
Congratulations to the Groomania team for another fantastic competitions and splendid organization.
