Saskatoon dog groomer headed to world team championships

A Saskatoon woman will head to Belgium next month with a group of Canadian dog groomers to compete for an international championship.

Lorna Phillips, the owner of It’s A Dog’s Life pet spa, is the captain of the five-person Groom Team Canada squad that will compete at Groomania in Belgium at the end of September. The event features teams from 21 different countries.

“There’s a ton of pressure,” Phillips said in an interview at her Saskatoon pet spa on Friday.

“Italy, France, Germany, they’re all really competitive, some of those people, all they do is live, eat and breathe dogs.”

READ MORE: How 2 people and 1 dog turned an N.S. court case into a children’s movie

The Canadian team was selected by a points-based system that awards groomers for placing well at various competitions. Phillips said she travelled across North America and even went to England, in an effort to earn her spot.

“I was only doing two or three competitions a year, but the last couple years, I wanted to try to make the team so I’ve been doing as many as I can,” she said.

Phillips has groomed dogs for 27 years and started to gain an interest in the competitive side of her business in 2008. She said the events help her learn more tricks to her trade, which she can implement at her Saskatoon business.

“When she goes away to competition, they come back with so much information, different ways of grooming, new styles,” Michelle Walsh, who works at the pet spa with Phillips, said.

READ MORE: Here’s what makes dogs so friendly (and ridiculously adorable)

Phillips said she hopes the experience in Belgium allows her to continue to build on a craft that she said is “a lot more than just cutting hair.”

“We are compassionate, usually passionate — we can look out for what’s going on with your dog’s skin, if there’s changes in their behaviour,” Phillips said.

“Grooming goes hand-in-hand with a dog’s well-being and health.”