Saturday Programs

Lisa is well known for her Asian-style grooming, which she also does on Schnauzers! In this seminar, she will demonstrate her very favorite breed in a non-traditional style. Lisa will also cover anatomy, clipping lines, and head styling.

If there's a single breed that you're certain to find coming to you for grooming, it's the Poodle. All of them—no matter what size, trim, style their owners select—should be elegant, well-balanced, and scissored. Grooming difficult feet, achieving a beautiful topknot, and getting that overall balanced look are not the easiest tasks in the world. Jay and Sue will demonstrate techniques and shortcuts, provide timesaving tips, and show you how to do quick and stylish everyday pet trim.

If you loved Blake's action-packed and refined introductory cat classes, you need to join him for the second installment as he goes further into the art and procedure of the fiercest feline trims. A real live demo of a Modified Lion trim on cat (barring the cat isn't hungry for Groomer fingers) will be included.

In this seminar, Olga will show you how to save time during washing, brushing, dematting, and styling dogs. She will also discuss planning the right schedule and using proper tools to help make the grooming process easier. You will enjoy Olga’s unique direct style and her “New Jersey accent” (as she puts it) honed from her homeland in Russia. You will also appreciate her hard work ethic and her winning style as one of the top competitors in the world.

Are you running a profitable dog grooming business or just working for yourself? In this hands-on workshop, business owners will learn to accurately calculate their business’s profitability and gain a clear understanding of their financial health. Through in-depth revenue and cost analysis, participants will identify opportunities to optimize operations, reduce expenses, and increase profits. You’ll also gain strategies for sustainable growth, empowering you to set up pricing and staff compensation plans that ensure long-term success. Join Elena for an hour of working "on" your business instead of "in" your business to transform it into a thriving, profitable enterprise!

Looking to elevate your grooming business? This interactive workshop will focus on areas crucial to running a successful grooming business, helping you discover and implement proven strategies for success. Participate in small group activities using scenario-based exercises, brainstorming prompts, and real-world challenges tailored specifically for grooming business owners and professionals. These hands-on exercises are designed to spark collaboration and creative problem-solving as you tackle problems and share insights. Leave with a fresh perspective, actionable strategies, and new connections to help your grooming business thrive.

A shift in a pet's emotional and mental state can change their mood and behavior. In this session, we are going to discuss the power of a positive experience and how that will improve the reaction of a scared, aggressive, or unsure pet. The grooming process can be scary or intimidating, which can result in a range of unwanted behaviors. We will discuss what those behaviors are and what activities can be used to counteract them. Even pets that enjoy going to the groomers can get overstimulated, resulting in an injury to the pet or pet pro. By using enrichment, we can reduce that risk. Creating a positive experience with enrichment also aids in building relationships between the pet care provider and the pets in their care, which will lead to more dapper dogs and fabulous felines for future grooms to come.

Ever wonder why some dogs look old and sad and other dogs look like cute young puppies? Do you ever look at a dog’s face and feel unsure of the best way to shape the ears, balance the chin, or how much length to take off? Grooming the whole face of a dog can feel overwhelming if you don’t know where to start, so Jess developed an easy-to-follow, step-by-step blueprint that takes the big picture and cuts it down into small concepts so you can create a gorgeous, youthful, adorable expression on any face type.

Battling burnout because you're tired of your clients dictating your haircuts? Ready to inspire them to try fresh, exciting styles that fuel your creativity? In this one-hour class, Rachel will guide you on how to communicate with clients to inspire trust and confidence, giving you the freedom to practice haircuts that reignite your passion for grooming. She will also demonstrate simple changes you can start incorporating into your grooms to add personality, style, and flair—without slowing you down.

Do you have problems understanding how to make your everyday pet styling simpler? Do you think the haircut is more important than customer service? Colin has walked every path in the dog grooming industry. He is a multi-contest winner, GroomTeam USA member and more. But over the years, Colin has realized that his clients do not necessarily appreciate this. Without dumbing down the pet grooming profession, Colin will simplify every day grooming by applying a certain pattern that fits close to every styled breed.

In this info-packed power hour, learn how to handle even the meanest of mutts. Join Madeline Rothwell and observe her sweet yet serious ways to tame a terrier, soothe a spaniel and even calm a collie! Madeline will share her trade secrets as a salon owner in a shave-down city, and the techniques she uses to win over the wildest of Weimaraners.

It is common as groomers to encounter difficult dogs, yet how do we know when difficult becomes dangerous? And how do we know when we should stop the groom? In this session, you’ll learn how to spot the differences between difficult and dangerous dogs. Learn where your limit is and when to stop grooming. Specializing in difficult or dangerous dogs is not easy. Learn how to improve your handling skills and safety with an unpredictable dog.

As a new groomer, we all know how intimidating it can be to make decisions on your own, deal with difficult clients, and start to feel confident on your new career path. In this seminar, Arielle will give you tips and tricks to help build your confidence, increase your speed, and overcome common fears as a new groomer.

Dog groomers learn the ropes by studying breed groups, coat types, and standard patterns—but where does that leave cats? In this session, we'll explore how breed-specific grooming applies to felines, from Persians and Maine Coons to your average domestic fluffball.

You'll learn how to adjust your techniques and product choices based on breed traits, coat density, body structure, and lifestyle needs. Whether you're working with a show-worthy purebred or a spicy DSH from down the block, these insights can help you deliver more customized grooms—and happier clients (feline and human alike).

Let’s get in the flow and enjoy the workday! Join Kelsey Ann Sexton as she shares and demonstrates some quick tips to zhuzh up your everyday dog grooming routines. You will learn tips for home-grooming fixes that took out hair in all the wrong places and leaving hair in certain areas to give owners the fluffy illusion without sending home higher-maintenance grooms. She will also discuss tactics for strategic mat removal that keeps the dog comfortable and how to make even a shave-down look cute!

Charles will focus on the correct shear techniques and how to properly use different types of shears when grooming a double-coated breed, specifically a Pomeranian. He will guide and break down the process of achieving a perfectly-finished look, emphasizing the right tools and methods to enhance the Pomeranian's coat. This seminar aims to equip you with the knowledge and skills needed to create a professional and polished groom.

Taylan loves all different styles and has won many awards with her freestyle trims. Let her guide you on her step-by-step technique to get pretty, round feet and a round head on all your drop coats. She will show you what tools to use and how to navigate that sometimes unforgiving coat.

We know by now that ergonomics is more than a buzzword, but how does it apply to our everyday grooming lives? This seminar will explain & demystify ergonomics, focusing on how it directly relates to our everyday grooming, including tools, posture, and stretches designed to keep you healthy and pain-free. We will also cover where safety and ergonomics meet in the grooming salon and discuss ergonomics cousin, PPE. Hear what experts in the field of ergonomics have to say about grooming smarter and healthier. Learn how to use this science to care for your most irreplaceable tool: YOU!

This seminar is about how to plan your life and your career so that you get to do everything you would like to do in life; be present for your family, and make enough money to be happy and healthy—things Judy wish someone had told her at the start of her career!

A business without yearly strategic planning is like a driving a car with no destination in mind. Sure we know how to drive and can do it, but where are we going? In this hour Amanda will be discussing what KPIs you should be tracking, what to do with the numbers when you do get them, how to involve your entire staff in the process, and how to set goals and actually achieve them. Strategic planning will help you get your salon where you've always dreamed it could be!

Are you struggling to figure out pricing for your grooming? Are you giving add-ons away because you just don’t know what the value is? Pricing is not generic, it needs to be structured in a manner that works for you. This one-hour seminar will help you figure out the proper pricing structure for your salon. Stop asking others what you should charge, and know what you need to charge to make money.

Once almost a dying art, hand-stripping has made a big comeback in the past few years. More and more owners are wanting their dogs hand-stripped to maintain coat and skin health, and it’s hard to find groomers that know this technique. In this seminar, Grace will teach you the fundamentals of hand-stripping, explaining what the different tools are, how to use them, the proper technique, what all the different terms mean, how to take care of a wire coat, and how to schedule them and charge for your time. The objective of this class is to give you a solid foundation so you can have the confidence to start practicing and building your hand-stripping skills into a solid income revenue stream. Grace will also have a variety of hand-stripping tools and giveaways courtesy of Artero USA.

Asian fusion grooming is still trending in pet grooming salons worldwide. In this seminar, Milena will demonstrate a fusion-inspired trim with a drop coat. Join her as she shows you her tips to achieve a gorgeous look and then highlight this unique trim with accessories.

Mindy will take a mess of a dog and transform it into something marvelous, showing you when to use different products and tools for the best results. This class is based on what we all have coming into our salons on a daily basis.

Anybody who has been “in dogs” for any period of time knows what a brachycephalic breed is. These dogs have short muzzles and broad heads and include such popular breeds as English Bulldogs, Boston Terriers and Shih Tzus, to name a few. These breeds come with their own set of issues that can cause problems, especially in the grooming process. Just washing the face of one of these breeds can be a challenge! Teri will focus on some of the problems unique to these breeds and how we can overcome these issues in the salon, sending out a clean, well-groomed dog with a sweet-looking and -smelling face.

Managing a team in the grooming industry can be challenging, but building and maintaining a high-performing staff is essential to the success of your salon. This seminar will teach grooming salon owners and managers the strategies they need to identify, nurture, and retain top employees while effectively managing or parting ways with underperformers.

Do you want to add creative touches to your salon menu but don’t know where to start? Angela Kumpe will show you how to get creative with accessories! Dipping your toes into the world of creative does not have to be scary. Angela will push your fears aside and show you ways to put a creative touch on every groom. Accessories are a simple way to add revenue to your salon, and with proper marketing, clients will request your creative touch.

Talking to people can be hard—especially when it’s a client. You never know what is going to come out of their mouths, so it makes it difficult to practice. If you have ever tried role-playing these scenarios, you know it can be super awkward. But what if practicing could be turned into a game? Join in this role-playing game for some fun learning and to help your team defeat the “Giant Karen boss” in this play on our favorite role-playing game. (Playing time is dependent on time needed and amount of people playing.)