A local dog groomer won a creative dog grooming competition last weekend in Pasadena. Sandy Hartness, owner of Sandy Paws Dog Grooming in Yucca Valley, competed with her 2-year-old poodle, Crush, in a large class of eight or nine other dogs, in Groom Expo West. Managing editor Tami Roleff spoke with Hartness by phone, who says she was excited by the win…
“I was actually really surprised I got first. I was hoping for third. I knew I had a good groom.” Sandy Hartness has been grooming dogs for 21 years and competing for 16 years in the “creative grooming” contests, in which the dogs are dyed and sculpted to become original works of art. Her winning design? “He was a carousel lion.” Her favorite designs over the years? “The [Teenage Mutant] Ninja Turtle was fun. And last year on my husky I did kind of an art theme. It was very freeing because I could do what I wanted. It was about art and expression; it wasn’t about ‘she needs to look like this’.” Due to the cost and time involved, she doesn’t do creative grooming for clients, but she does get other requests for creative dye jobs and trimming. “Tips of the tail, tips of the ears, Mohawks are real popular for the clients.” Hartness says both she and her dogs love the grooming competitions. “They want to be up on the table getting worked on; they’re like, ‘me next!’ It’s a blast. I love my job. It’s something you can have fun with your own personal dog. The dogs don’t care what color they are or what color their friends are. They want to be up on the grooming table. They say ‘Me next!’” Congratulations on the win, and good luck at the next competition in Las Vegas in July.
