I am a firm believer in competition bringing out the best in us. If it weren’t for competition, we would all get sloppy over time. Quality would be sacrificed and mediocre or inferior accomplishments would become acceptable. This is why competition is so great. It makes an athlete faster and stronger, it makes a student study harder, and it makes a groomer groom better.

If you take a look at the biggest icons in the dog grooming industry, past and present, how many of them have a background in competition grooming? How many of them have a background in show ring competition? Both of these arenas are competitive and bring out the absolute best in the groomer that is driven to win.

The show ring, in particular, is the very foundation for the many grooming standards that exist within the grooming industry. Breed standards as well as grooming standards are continually measured for excellence within the dog show world. Those very standards have been foundational to the type of work that is done on a daily basis in grooming salons around the world. This is accepted and expected when it comes to dog grooming. But what about cat grooming?

It wasn’t that long ago that no real defined standards existed for cat grooming. For a long time groomers have been applying their skills and knowledge of dog grooming to the occasional feline that frequents their salon, hoping that what is good for the dog is also good for the cat. While that may be true some of the time, most of the time it is not.

In 2007, the National Cat Groomers Institute of America arrived on the scene and set standards for feline grooming where none had existed before. Those very standards were founded upon competitive cat showing, just like dog grooming standards were. In this instance, what has been good for the dog, truly is good for the cat. Not only do the cats of the world benefit, but also their owners as they slowly begin to find more consistent standards no matter where they go to get their cat groomed.

Go visit a CFA cat show sometime. You can find a schedule of shows at cfa.org. They go on all over the world, every weekend of the year. Go see for yourself the various feline breeds that exist. Check out the multitude of colors and pay attention to the different coat types. Most importantly, check out who is making a judge’s top 10. Look at the exquisite grooming as the best of the best are presented. Cat fanciers KNOW how to groom a cat! They are, after all, being judged on their grooming almost every weekend. Well before I ever groomed cats for clients, I was grooming for show and being judged on my grooming nearly every weekend. Along the way I picked up several National and Regional awards including a National 3rd Best Cat in 2005. Cat showing is, in essence, a beauty contest for cats. The best groomer often takes home the booty.

Everything I learned in the show ring, I have applied to my feline grooming business. The results are amazing. My customers are happy. It doesn’t matter what breed of cat I am working with, it gets groomed in a way that best defines its standard. The final results should be show-worthy even when the cat is headed home to lie on the sofa. The owner sees the difference. The cat knows the difference. And so do I. You wouldn’t send home a dog with with a mediocre groom or one that didn’t meet its standard. So why is it okay to do that with a cat?

When it comes to providing the best grooming results possible, what is good for the dog, ought to be good for the cat. Exactly how that is achieved is another matter altogether.

These photos were taken recently of Cotn Hill Charleston’s King Cameron at his first show as an open.
Breeder: Gina Harget, Cotn Hill Cattery
Owner: Shirley Spigner
Groomer: Danelle German, CFMG, CFCG
Photographer: Larry Johnson, Johnson Photography

Even though very few of my clients over the years have actual show cats, this type of groom has been the foundation for them all.

I have always been a fan of poetry, particularly when i was younger and seemed to have more time for “stopping to smell the roses.”  One of my favorite poets is Robert Frost, who is probably most well-known for his poem “Road Not Taken.”

The last lines of the poem…..

I can relate. I find myself in this place that I could never have imagined…….the oddity, a pioneer. I am amazed at where this road has led. In it’s simplest form, this road is all about the transformation from bad to good.

This work was done by my daughter, Olivia, who has been grooming cats for most of her life and currently works as an instructor at the National Cat Groomers School.  What she does is an art form and a rare one at that. The results of her work are greatly appreciated by our clients.  And I’m sure the cats are thankful, too.

I love traveling this road that has often been a very bumpy one, many times requiring some actual trailblazing along the way. I love watching my daughter make her journey along the same path. Knowing that my efforts have made the road smoother for her and others that are choosing the same less-traveled route gives me a sense of great satisfaction.

Atlanta Pet Fair is just around the corner! If you’ve never been to this show, you need to check it out. I’ve been to a lot of trade shows and APF ranks at the top in the excitement and energy department. There’s always stuff going on.

Atlanta Pet Fair
March 2-4, 2012 at the Hilton Atlanta Airport

Visit the NCGIA booth while you’re there. Watch a live cat grooming demo at the Wahl booth or catch one of my lectures.

The topics:
Naked & Naughty or Just Plain Knotty (Includes live grooming demonstration)

Some cats should never be shaved and yet show up for that first grooming appointment because they are severely matted or pelted and then return again a year later in the same condition. This cycle, which is potentially dangerous for both cat and groomer, CAN be broken.  Knowing what grooming services are best fitted to each individual cat and how to effectively communicate humane grooming care options to their owners is the first step in changing the cycle.  Learn how to determine when shaving is the best option and when it is not, particularly when dealing with aggressive kitties.   Make life better for your clients while growing your business at the same time!

How to Groom Cats and Live to Tell About It (Includes live grooming demonstration)

It’s no secret that cat grooming can be dangerous.  But the dangers can certainly be minimized by using cat-friendly handling techniques and tools. Learn how to quickly and accurately identify a cat’s temperament before it is groomed.   Learn how to bathe, dry, clip and trim a cat in ways that work best with each type of temperament.  Groom cats with confidence and finesse and keep your clients coming back for more!

Stuff You Can Take to the Bank (Interactive workshop format)

This lecture will be very interactive and cover such topics as:

-How to figure out your potential and maximize it

-What specific things to focus on to effectively grow your business

-Pricing structures

-Identifying problems and creating real solutions

Bring YOUR questions, problems, and frustrations.  We’ll work toward creative solutions as we cover some common grooming business topics and a whole lot more!

Lecture attendees get the mother of all lecture hand-outs: our new 2012 Culture Book. Absolutely free!

See you there!

Our latest book, hot of the press:
NCGIA 2012 Culture Book.

I have to say this was a really fun project to do!  The idea came rather quickly and out-of-the-blue.  When I presented the idea to our fabulous team, they jumped on it and we all set to work gathering the content for the book in record time!

Liz Boles, one of our instructors and also our behind-the-scenes design girl, got to work putting the book together while I frantically wrote out content (Liz did an aMaZing job!).  Dana set to work collecting the missing pieces and contacting some CFMGs to gather photos and updates.  Olivia groomed more cats so we could gather more photos to go along with some of the content.  And Monica, Chloe and Dollar all worked extra hard by napping on our desks and holding down all the papers and files.

Before long the culture book idea was an actual book.  We had the publishing company ship off a few boxes of books for distribution at the Pasadena Groom and Kennel Expo (where I am as I write this post). And the rest were delivered to our headquarters to be added to our store inventory. (I have to say, I think the books are very pretty all stacked up in a neat pile.)

So what is a culture book exactly?

Well, culture is defined this way:

n.

1. 1. The totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought.
   2. These patterns, traits, and products considered as the expression of a particular period, class, community, or population: Edwardian culture; Japanese culture; the culture of poverty.
   3. These patterns, traits, and products considered with respect to a particular category, such as a field, subject, or mode of expression: religious culture in the Middle Ages; musical culture; oral culture.
   4. The predominating attitudes and behavior that characterize the functioning of a group or organization.
2. Intellectual and artistic activity and the works produced by it.
3. 1. Development of the intellect through training or education.
   2. Enlightenment resulting from such training or education.
4. A high degree of taste and refinement formed by aesthetic and intellectual training.
5. Special training and development: voice culture for singers and actors.

Personally, I like definition #4 most of all.  However, together in their totality, these definitions provide a well-rounded description of the ingredients we’ve cooked up in book form; the NCGIA culture in 171 pages that contain both written material and photographs. Content includes the NCGIA mythology,  the personalities of our team, news from CFMGS around the globe, the NCGIA environment and vision, a strong case for WHY we advocate for cats, a plethora of tips and tricks to help with the actual grooming of cats, and more!

I just gave away NCGIA 2012 Culture Books to all of the attendees at my lectures here in Pasadena yesterday.  And we’ll be giving away more at my lectures at Atlanta Pet Fair next month.  These are the mother of all lecture hand outs!  I promise, you’ve never gotten a hand out quite like this one before.

If you aren’t attending any of these lectures, the book is available to you throughour online store at a discounted price for a limited time.  The “Tidbits” chapter is worth every penny all by itself.

Be a part of the amazing and ever-growing NCGIA culture!

The NCGIA is not me.  It is not the people that work here and keep it running.  It is not just about grooming cats.  It is so much more than that!  An entire culture that is invading the world and making a difference. It is truly some thing I am proud to be a part of!

April 19-21, 2012

Details heading to your email boxes.

Click here to see where we are staying! Awesome!

Pricing Structures and Special Fees Join us for a Webinar on January 16 Space is limited. Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/457804590 Danelle German will discuss pricing structures and special fees applicable to a cat grooming business. Topics include: setting up a pricing structure, base prices, add-ons, special fees, surcharges, averages, and how to grow your bottom line. Many of the principals used also apply to a dog grooming business. Title: Pricing Structures and Special Fees Date: Monday, January 16, 2012 Time: 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM EST After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar. System Requirements PC-based attendees Required: Windows® 7, Vista, XP or 2003 Server Macintosh®-based attendees Required: Mac OS® X 10.5 or newer

With a new year comes a fresh start. A chance to do things differently, make things better. I am excited about this new year because it gives us at the NCGIA an opportunity to do things bigger and better than ever before.

We are here for you!

What can we do to make you the best you can be and increase your profitability?

In essence, that is our mission.  It is why I started the NCGIA in the first place.

In the spring of 2006, I retired from a successful show career to focus on my “accidental” feline-grooming business that was built on a tremendous demand for my skills.  I had no idea such a need existed, and was later surprised to discover that the void was industry-wide. Someone had to change that!

In April of 2007, in the midst of a grooming forum discussion on the topic of certification, I decided that an association built specifically for the purposes of improving cat grooming was in order. And thus, the NCGIA was born. We have always been and will continue to be the first association for feline groomers and the author of the first set of cat grooming standards and accompanying certification program to ever exist within the industry.

I put a lot of money, time and planning into those first months of getting the association up and running. And I didn’t do it for fun or because I had nothing better to do. I did it to improve the industry that I was a vested partner in. The same industry that those of you reading this are vested partners in.

The mission statement, as written that spring of 2007 reads:

When I originally started this association, the main purpose was to make feline groomers the very best they could be and thus improve the grooming industry as a whole. That purpose has never changed. And it never will change.  We may change how we accomplish that mission and reach specific goals, but ultimately the mission of the National Cat Groomers Institute will remain what it was intended to be – a tool used for the betterment of the grooming industry and for YOU, an individual groomer that makes the industry exist in the first place.

So how do we help you be the best you can be?  Well, I’m asking you.  Let us know.  We want to hear from you – all of you.  Tell us what you need most of all.  We are listening.  How can we help you work smarter and become more successful?

I invite you to share with us your needs so we can better structure our programs and products to meet the needs that can and should be met.

At the NCGIA we are serious about quality and excellence. We will not willingly or intentionally compromise it.  Quality and excellence always require some degree of effort to achieve. So as we seek to meet your needs and help you be the best you can be as a feline groomer, we must always maintain the standards that have already been set.  To do anything less would be a disservice to you and to the pet grooming industry.

So with that at the forefront of our minds, let’s kick off a brand-new year with aspirations of being bigger and better than ever before. Let’s turn those aspirations into a profitable reality.

I cannot think of a better way to wrap up a year of cat grooming than by preparing a sweet, beautiful longhair Exotic van for his first cat show.  Cotn Hill Charleston’s King Cameron, otherwise known as Cam, traveled from Charleston to Charlotte with his mom, Shirley, stopping by the NCGIA for a show groom on the way.

I had never met Cam before. He was a delight to groom, just as any longhair Exotic should be. Before Shirley came back to pick him up, I was tempted to hide him,  telling his mother that he had accidentally jumped out the window and run away. After all, who couldn’t use an extra black and white van?

An hour and a half after he had been dropped off for grooming, Shirley and Cam drove away, headed north to Charlotte for an early morning Saturday show. I wished them good luck as they sped away. And luck they did have!  Cam made all 6 finals that Saturday, even securing a 3rd Best Cat in premiership and 10th Best Cat in premiership, right up there with the Grands. As an Open this was quite a feat!

Shirley and Cam headed back home to Charleston with the new Premiership title as well as more than half the points needed for a Grand title. Not bad for a days work!

Thank you, Shirley, for allowing me the pleasure of working with this magnificent boy! We hope to see you both very soon. Happy New Year!