Day 3 and 4 of the journey to Groomania in Belgium- a very delayed update :)

I know it’s a very late report from the trip – I got hit by the flu/sinus infection and have been sick for 2 weeks now. Its amazing how much its affecting your brains ability to function ha ha ha ha ….But better late than never- so here we go 😊 Day 2 of Groomania gave us more great seminars – Sonia Enrico showed show grooming of wire haired foxterrier – interesting to see the differences between countries on how its done. And talking about hand stripping – I tried out the Karhi hand stripping machine. Being a hand strip person, I must admit that I have been quite sceptic when I first came on the market. But this was the first time I had a chance to try it out my self and I was surprised that it actually worked quite well. It´s very slow! I think it would do my head in using it LOL – but it’s a great option for groomers with damaged hands that still wants to offer the service. Due to the slow pace it also causes less irritation to the dog and several groomers that I have talked to says that they see a huge difference in the dogs when using it. So, don’t dismiss it- it definitively has a niche in the market. I watched William Gallharde from Brazil in the afternoon doing a shih tzu in a Brazilian take on Asian Fusion. He didn’t only shared grooming secrets – he also told us about the everyday life of Brazilian groomers, and it was amazing to hear the difference between Europe and Brazil… Lots of people bring their dog to the groomer every week! Or at least every second week – he found it hard to understand how we coped with the 10-12 weeks dog that we usually do. This is why I like to go to events like this – you not only learn grooming tricks – but you learn about the differences in the industry in different countries. There was off course also competition going on during the day – I watched the poodle classes and you could see some amazing grooms – a Japanese lady – Momoko Hatakeyama-did a white toy poodle and I said halfway thru the class that this one will go far – she ended up winning Best in Show at the end 😊I liked her way to handle her dog – a lot of poodle people forget that it’s a dog and once the dog is sprayed up they carry it in the head and tail in order no to mess up the hair ☹ But when her name was called she scoped up the dog into her arms and headed for the podium – not a worry in the world about any “damage” she would do to the “ sculpture” that she just had created. If you go to Groomanias official Facebook page you will find all the winners and lots of photos from the weekend – https://www.facebook.com/groomaniabelgium/ You don’t go to Groomania without intent to do serious shopping LOL – and I am no different…. I never spend a lot of money on shoes and clothes – but I didn’t hesitate to buy a comb for 109 euro! And -yes… its gold coloured…… How can you justify paying that much for a comb you say ?? …… well -it’s a huge difference between combs… And I must admit that I have been a bit reluctant to spend that much myself. But I tried the comb earlier and realised that it is actually different to other combs. I will do a separate post later about the comb and why I like it.I also got myself a set of model dog/training wigs and a head so that I do creative styling/colouring / Asian fusion to train and have fun. I have a couple of the old type of model dogs – but the “hair” quality has improved a lot the past year and its much easier to work in the new type compared to the old one. There will be a couple of evenings spent now brushing them when I watch the telly… And then I got some less exciting but necessary shopping done – things that you actually need 😊 – like wheels that doesn’t collect hair for the stool and dryers and new blingy grooming smocks. The finals for the competition was the end of the day – it’s a long and slow process- and it always goes on until late in the evening. This year was no exception – the clock was well over 8.30 in the evening when it was over.This is truly an international event – the Best overall groomer came from Colombia and the Best in Show winner came from Japan. It was in total groomers from 34 different countries attending the event ! By the time it was over it was too late for us to head to our favourite Italian restaurant, so we had to stick to McDonalds. Monday was spent touristing a bit more in Kortrijkand do a bit more shopping ha ha ha. We found a dangerous shop filled with hairstyling items from all over the world- wigs, extension’s, clippers, dye, products for afro hair and more…. Let’s say we were not empty handed when we left that shop 😊 Once at the airport I couldn’t resist heading into the Tintin shop…. Belgium is the home country of Tintin and with his dog Milou being a fox terrier type of dog there is always tempting items to buy for a fox terrier fan.I did find a lovely figurine of Tintin and Milou in a blue urn from the book The blue lotus. But I couldn’t justify spending 275 euro on it …. So I settled for a more modest priced figurine with Milou sitting on a throne with a golden crown – probably very accurate if you ask the fox terrier ha ha ha The last leg of the journey ended up making me feel like I was part of the second Die Hard movie …. Heavy rain and winds and clouds made it impossible for the plane to land so we had to circle around in the air above the airport for 20 minutes ….. it felt just like in the movie ha ha ha ha I then just waited for the pilot to tell us that they would divert us to Cork or something ( which is in the other end of the country for you that doesn’t live in Ireland. ) My sinuses where at that point completely blocked and my head felt like it was going to explode – so I didn’t look forward to a prolonged flight followed by several hours in a bus to get back to Dublin. But just as I was going to give up the pilot declared that he had been given green light to land the plane and I was happy despite the bumpy approach to the runway. The date for Groomania 2020 is 26-27 September – mark the date in your calendar and start to plan your journey – you won’t regret it!