Also see Spring 2010, Fall 2008, Spring 2007, Fall 2006

IWANE Spring Meeting, March 4, 2006

featured speaker: JODI ALLWARD
"Grooming the Irish Wolfhound for show and pet
Handling Your Irish Wolfhound in the Show Ring"

Our Spring 2006 meeting was held on March 4th in Freetown, MA at the Steppin’ Up Training facility. This facility was perfect in every way. It had great matting on the floor, ring fencing, chairs, heat (!) and a fenced area in the back where folks could exercise their dogs – just a wonderful layout. We had 13 observers and 8 dogs participate in this Spring meeting program.

 Jodi Allward was our presenter and the program was focused on “Grooming the Irish Wolfhound for show and as a pet” and “Handling your Irish Wolfhound in the show ring”.

Jodi has been involved with Irish Wolfhounds since she was 9 years old. She was an active part of Wolfdane Kennels, owned by her mother Karlyn. She currently raises and exhibits Whippets. However, that does not mean Jodi is a stranger to the Wolfhound ring. Jodi handles many Wolfhounds for many breeders. She shows in the US and Canada. One of Jodi’s accomplishments is showing a dog that took an award of merit at the Eukanuba Classic in Florida 2005. On Feb 14th, 2006 Jodi showed the dog that won Best of Breed at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in New York City.
 
      Jodi started the program off with grooming. She groomed 4 dogs, explaining why she was doing what she was doing to that particular dog – to elongate the neck, to make the feet look smaller (long hair on feet elongates them), to just clean up the overall appearance, or to strip the entire coat out. We had the observers as well as the folks with dogs crowding around Jodi and the dog to get a good view. Just because you were an observer did not mean you did not get to pull some coat! As the time approached 3:00 pm we had a rug of IW hair on the floor. We cleaned up the hair (it looked like it snowed in the room!) and proceeded to the handling program, giving Jodi’s fingers a rest before taking on the other 4 dogs for grooming.
 
      The handling program was wonderful. Jodi gave us the prospective of the judge – present your dogs’ best attributes, show the dog – be invisible, stand tall and be proud. She also gave us all individual handling tips as she watched us stack and move our dogs. She helped us to work through specifics so we present a complete picture to the judge. What a great experience.
 
      After handling Jodi went back to grooming. The other dogs and owners got dedicated hands on grooming and homework.
 
      Some of us left with partially groomed dogs but with the knowledge of how to complete the picture. Personally, I now have to keep this up because I am not sure I could bring my dogs coat back to what it is today if I let it go again (and of course I only let it go so she had something to work on on my dog! Grin!). This program was helpful for the novice as well as the more experienced groomer. I think it is always nice to see different techniques – builds up the grooming tool kit.
 
      I’d like to thank everyone who participated – hands on person or as an observer. We had great questions and dialog all around. I think everyone felt like a part of the program.
 
      A special thanks to Andrea Dormady who helped with setup, Suze Craighead and Colleen Brown for staying for cleaning up, Bill Holmes for hosting Jodi during her stay (I want to stay at Bill’s house!), Rosemary Wortman for scheduling a wonderful program/presenter, and to Jodi for providing us with a wonderful program. Of course there are many others who have contributed – I have not forgotten you. Thank you. 

Reported by Karen Eberl