18/10/2026
Last weekend I attended “The Crumb”
Grooming Competition run by Jazz Fitzgerald who began “The Pup Cup” in Coffs Harbour. “The Crumb” was named after her little Griffon, Crumb - small but mighty. This reflected the type of competition she had pictured for the weekend. It was run over three days, with the classes Poodle, Gundog, Purebred Scizzor, Handstrip/Terrier, Salon Freestyle and Creasian (Creative Asian).
Bradley and I placed 🥈 2nd in Salon Freestyle with a schnauzer inspired trim. The judge, Wendy, said it was an extremely close call to 1st place, and the only thing letting me down is that a drop coat is just harder to get that perfectly crisp finish that can be achieved on a good quality poodle coat. And the 1st place groom on a tiny toy poodle was just immaculate (pictured as Runner Up Best In Show next to Rachel)!
Rachel and I entered CreAsian and came 🥇 1st in our class and went on to line up on Sunday afternoon with the other 1st place Masters class winners to then take out BEST IN SHOW!
Wendy said “Your trim displayed balance with a lovely use of colour and a very good finish. The whole package for me.”
It was an awesome way to end on a high. I’m unsure if I will compete again. I at least need a couple of years break.
Thankyou go to all the sponsors:
Hyponic Australia, MS brand scissors, Gold Grooming Supplies, Tony Zhu, DGS Imports, Botany Bay Imports, igroomhub, Terri Smith, Shear Society, AT Ribbons, Secret Weapon Australia, Dogs Queensland, Andis Pet Grooming Australia, ECOMIME | Korean Eco-friendly Vegan Grooming Products.
To Wendy Wouters for being such an amazing judge. I saw many instances of her asking competitions to wait back so she could excitedly tell them some ideas for their next groom to really help them improve. She put in so much extra time and thoughts when judging. I also loved that she explained why she chose her winners to everyone watching. A lot of the time we are left wondering why a judge chose a certain groom over another.
To Jazz Fitzgerald for putting in so much effort in a short time frame to satisfy us QLD groomers with a competition for this year! She went above and beyond and we’re all appreciative!
To Sarah Fisher from The Clipping Point magazine, who photographed all weekend, then spent all week editing the pictures and uploading them for us to download, all the while running her own salon and looking after her family! They turned out amazing.