Tracy Libby, Reviews Editor
The Professional Dog
Online Classes
How to Groom Your
Australian Shepherd
Grooming dogs, especially Australian Shepherds, is an art form,
and like anything else some people are naturals when it comes
to transforming a ragamuffin into a breed ring rockstar. They
have a knack for making their dogs stand out in the ring with
that “WOW!” appearance. If you want to wow the judges—and
everyone ringside—there’s absolutely no reason you can’t become
a rockstar at grooming your Australian Shepherd, and Moira
Hanley-Cornell, professional handler, groomer, and founder of
The Professional Dog (www.theprofessionaldog.com), will show
you how to improve your grooming skills with her online course,
How To Groom Your Australian Shepherd. The six-week course
covers everything from tools and products to bathing, trimming,
stripping, brushing, and conditioning to minimizing faults, and so
much more.
Cornell is fond of saying, “Groom to the dog.” “What this
means is that every dog is different and should be groomed as
such,” explains Cornell. “Know your dogs’ strengths and faults
alike so you can learn to enhance the good and correct the faults.”
36
AUSTRALIAN SHEPHERD JOURNAL
MARCH | APRIL 2017
(Sounds a lot like dog training, doesn’t it?)
Cornell starts by showing you her favorite and must-have tools
of the trade including brushes, combs, shears, stripping tools, mat
breakers, blow dryers, shampoos, conditioners, finishing products,
and so forth. What I liked about this section is she names names.
She tells you the name brand shampoos and conditioners she uses
and why—and why they may or may not work for your dogs
depending on their coat texture. Rather than say, “Get yourself a
pin brush,” Cornell shows you exactly which name brand brushes
she uses and why. Why one brush works better than another and,
again, why it may or may not work for your dogs. She also shows
you when to use which brush, how to use it properly, and why.
(Did you know you don’t use the same tattered pin brush for
everything?)
If you’ve checked out shears lately, you know they can range in
price from reasonable to crazy expensive! And price isn’t the only
thing that separates them. The number of teeth, which, according
to Cornell, should be approximately 43 to 46 to give a good blend
with minimal scissor marks, and, of course, personal preference also
plays an important role.
I’m simultaneously obsessed with and intrigued by the products
found in other handlers’ tack boxes. So I really liked this section
and, of course, now I have a huge list of must-haves to add to my
own tack box.
From there, Cornell covers a new topic weekly (sometimes
multiple topics) using videos and photographs to cover each section
starting with bathing, stripping and trimming—ears, front feet, back
feet, hocks, (apparently the scissor angle when trimming hocks and
feet is very important!), and then moving onto body work, which
includes etching (if you’re not familiar with this, you’ll want to
check it out), mane and rear, shoulder and elbow, topline, croup,
underline, the shawl, feathers, and correct blow drying techniques.
Cornell also covers fixing faults including a narrow front, narrow
rear, dropping off at the croup, etc. Equally important, she covers
ring prep, which includes grooming at the dog show and ringside
grooming.
There are a few different ways of bathing and apparently I’m two
baths short with my dogs because Cornell swears by a triple-bath
system. “I bathe the dog three times in a row, wet down, scrub rinse
and repeat. The first bath will just clean the outer layer, the next
bath will help lift the dead coat away from the healthy coat and
the third will remove the dead hair. Removing the dead coat allows
the new coat to grow in healthier and shiner then ever before. This
technique is done three to four weeks before the dog show.”
Cornell encourages participants to post before and after pictures,
as well as ask a lot of questions, which benefits you as well as
other participants, as she offers plenty of constructive criticism and
plenty of additional grooming tips.
The “six-week course” is a bit of a misnomer because the online
information is available forever once it’s posted. I can’t count how
many times I’ve gone back and reread or reviewed a video multiple
times.
The only drawback, which Cornell was working to remedy, is the
Faceback format. I found it confusing and somewhat frustrating
to follow the information on Facebook. With multiple posts
showing up and people asking questions irrelevant to the topic, I
occasionally felt as if I were missing something because suddenly
there’s a post on, say, trimming front feet, and I had to search
through the posts to find the original post. A few of the videos
could have been clearer, as the demonstrations were often difficult
to see on the black-tri demo dogs. However, once Cornell tweaks
and masters the format and video demonstrations, there will be
no stopping her when it comes to spreading the word on how to
groom your Australian Shepherd for showing.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the information and positive
feedback, and I think you will, too. Regardless of whether you are
a seasoned groomer or newcomer to the breed, you will learn from
head to toe how to groom like a pro!
Show To Win
Now that you’re learning to groom like a pro—how would you
like to learn to show like a pro, too? Sure, you have probably been
told that you can’t beat the professional handlers—but you can!
Moira Hanley-Cornell, a successful breeder, owner, and handler,
will show you how to do it with her online course Show to Win.
“If you want to beat the pros, you need to be like the pros!” says
Cornell.
Showing your own dog has umpteen benefits. First and foremost,
all those hours of training, conditioning, grooming, and traveling
together help to develop a strong bond between you and your dog.
The stronger the bond, the more your dog will want to be with you
and work for you. The harder he works for you, the more likely
you are to increase your odds of being successful in the ring. (Isn’t
that what dog showing is all about?)
In this course, which is similar in format to How to Groom Your
Australian Shepherd, Cornell shows you step by step with videos
and photographs how to achieve each dog’s maximum potential.
She jumps right into her Ten Commandments for becoming a
successful owner/handler including but not limited to: always
dressing the part, grooming and training your dog, not hanging
around the ring with your dog thirty minutes before your class
starts, staying focused in the ring, and believing in yourself.
You will first learn how to keep your dog’s head straight. Did
you know keeping his head straight allows you to control the dog?
Not in a mean, robotic way—but it lets him know you’re in charge,
and it helps to eliminate foot movement. You will also learn how
to properly stack the front, stack the rear, and show the bite, which
may seem like a simple task but according to many judges, showing
a dog’s bite is problematic for many handlers. (Hint: the judge can’t
see your dog’s teeth if your hand or head is in the way.)
In the Training Exercises section, Cornell provides plenty of
exercises including “rule out,” which is teaching a dog to stand
still. We’ve all seen them in the ring—the dogs masquerading as
statues who are so focused with rapt attention on their owner/
handler, they don’t move a muscle, let alone a foot. Basically, she’s
teaching the dog that “focusing on me, watching the food, and not
moving anything will get you the reward.”
You will learn how to teach your dog how to move only his front
MARCH | APRIL 2017
AUSTRALIAN SHEPHERD JOURNAL
37
feet, how to back up step by step and, equally fun, how to step
sideways to position/stack himself correctly.
Once you’ve mastered those techniques, Cornell moves into the
“Showcasing” section of the course where she demonstrates and
teaches you three free-stack positions to use when returning to the
judge. She also explains the importance of not running up on the
judge, collar position, how to move out at the end of the leash, the
importance of the first three steps when starting a down and back
or going around the ring, recognizing the best speed for your dog,
and knowing the difference between pacing and correct movement.
If you’ve been showing for any period of time, most likely you
have been subjected to some naughty tricks by handlers including
boxing you in, running up on your dog, or blocking the judge’s
view of your dog. In her section on Before You Show, Cornell
stresses the importance of recognizing these dirty tactics and how
to deal with them.
For instance:
• Stay in your place during the class, especially if the class is large. Don’t get lost.
• If someone in the line up poses their dog in front of you, get out there and do the same.
• Don’t be intimidated. Be confident. In other words, if you act like a novice and tell everyone what an average job you do handling—that’s what the judge will see.
Speaking of judges, Cornell includes several interviews with
judges who were asked three questions:
1. What is the most common mistake you see in the ring?
2. What is your pet peeve in the ring?
3. What is your advice to new handlers?
I’m obsessed with asking questions—Why do you use that type
of lead? Why do you stack your dog that way? How did you get
him to move his feet like that? How do you get him to move out
in front of you? And perhaps most important, Where did you get
those shoes?
Interestingly, the judges remained anonymous and from a few
of the answers I can see why. Most, if not all, of the answers were
helpful and insightful, but a few were in my humble opinion quite
testy. We all know from Facebook that the written word —absent
body language and verbal intonations—can come across a bit cross.
I’ll let you be the judge. (No pun intended!) Here’s one example:
Question: What’s your biggest pet peeve that handlers do?
Answer 2: Telling me things. I do not want to be told your bitch
is in season or your dog is out of court [sic] or he won yesterday.
Do not talk to me in the ring or try to make an excuse for your
dog’s behavior. It will take you to the end of the line.
Possibly a bit of editing or perhaps a bit more thought put into the
answers by the judge might prove beneficial to this section, which
is one of my favorites because, again, I’m obsessed with asking
questions. And what better way to learn than talking to breeders,
handlers, judges, and, of course, taking courses like this one.
Cornell wraps up the course by including a great section on the
Group. When you advance to the Group, you will be using all the
techniques Cornell has covered in this online course. Group can be
nerve-wracking for even the seasoned pro because the handlers can
be pretty pushy. Cornell provides a number of great pointers for
making that first impression (especially if the Group judge was not
your breed judge) and succeeding in the Group, which are bound to
prove beneficial for both the novice and seasoned handler.
Any successful handler will tell you that you have seconds in the
ring in front of a judge. Learning how to present your dog like a
pro—how to present his best best features / virtues—will greatly
enhance your chances of coming home with the coveted points.
I thoroughly enjoyed this course, and like the How To Groom
Your Australian Shepherd course, the information is available
indefinitely to participants. I learned something new in all of the
sections, and I enjoyed the positive feedback Cornell provided to the
participants questions. Participants ranged from novice to seasoned
professional and handled multiple breeds including Cavaliers,
Golden Retrievers, Elk Hounds, and, yes, even Aussies! I can’t count
how many times I have gone back and reviewed different videos and
Cornell’s tips for handling like a pro.
Regardless of whether you are a novice owner / handler or
seasoned professional, I’m certain you will enjoy this course and
learn how to show to win. For information, visit Cornell’s website
The Professional Dog (www.theprofessionaldog.com).
Ten Commandments for becoming a successful owner/handler
including but not limited to: always dressing the part, grooming
and training your dog, not hanging around the ring with your
dog thirty minutes before your class starts, staying focused in
the ring, and believing in yourself.
38
AUSTRALIAN SHEPHERD JOURNAL
MARCH | APRIL 2017