Groomer Has It, Week I Recap

Animal Planet’s new show, Groomer Has It, premiered Saturday night (9 PM EST). I prepared myself for a canine version of Project Runway, complete with zany competitors and bizarre chal

lenges. The first episode introduces all of the dog stylists and presents them with their first two challenges. Given that I have started grooming Louis and Ella Bean by myself at home, I am hoping to pick up a few tips to avoid mangling my pet’s fur in the future.

12 groomers move into the ‘Dog House,’ which looks like a house that MTV’s Real World cast would live in, with dog themed décor. Two of the groomers purport themselves to be “celebrity dog stylists” and they namedrop A-list superstars claiming to have ‘done’ these celeb dogs. There are the long shots with no formal training, hobby groomers and those who have been practicing their craft for their whole lives and worked in the high-pressure dog show industry.

True to reality TV competition formula, one of the groomers is eliminated after the challenge each week. They are competing for a $50,000 cash prize, a fully loaded mobile grooming van and the title, Groomer of the Year.

The shows is hosted by former Queer Eye for the Straight Guy host, Jai Rodriguez, who keeps the tone of the show light and funny.

The first challenge is for the groomers to identify, blindfolded, breeds of dog lined up for the stylists to touch, and guess the breed by shape and fur texture. Next, they are asked to style a ‘yarn dog,’ a canine mannequin, used by student groomers to practice before getting hands on with a live, squirmy canine.

The judges are champion dog show handler Xavier Santiago, veterinarian, Dr. Karen Halligan and Joey Villani, identified as a U.S. Grooming expert.

What the first episode lacked in live dogs, it made up for in quirky, enthusiastic competitors who are sure to deliver some humor throughout the season. I loved that the host, Jai, has his Yorkshire Terrier, Nemo, deliver the challenge information to the competitors at the Dog House via a pocket in a cute canine jacket.

While the judges seem less then impressed with most of the finished yarn dogs, the transformation on some was pretty cool and a few of the mannequins had morphed into lifelike little animals! Many of the competitors seriously overdid coloring their faux dog’s hair, leaving the yarn dogs looking more ridiculous then punk doggie chic.

Finally, after the judges deliberated, the winner was deemed to be Jonathan, the high-end, New York City celebrity dog groomer. Jonathan owns his own elite dog grooming business and has been in the industry for over 15 years. His win secures him the ‘pick of the litter’ for next week’s challenge.

One of the bottom two scorers was Jasper, a 42-year-old groomer from Boston, who has owned his own dog salon for the past seven years, encountered the unfortunate when his yarn dog lost a leg. Jasper decided to make the most of it, naming his mannequin Tripod. Unfortunately, the grooming didn’t look as good as Jasper had hoped but he was ultimately allowed to stay.

The first to be sent home from the Dog House was Lisa, the 50-year-old groomer from Phoenix, who owns her own mobile grooming company. In truth, I thought Jasper’s dog looked way more ugly then Lisa’s, but I am not a grooming expert! Click here to see all of the contestant’s before and after pictures.

I can’t wait for next week’s episode, Ruff Customers, and I love that there are enough crazy dog people like me to create such a ridiculous show!

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