21/09/2026
Vale Sheila Morris, A Pioneer of the Grooming Industry
Today, the grooming community has lost one of its true pioneers with the passing of Sheila Morris.
Sheila’s contribution to professional dog grooming, particularly in New Zealand, is difficult to overstate. She was a woman who didn’t simply participate in an industry. She helped build the foundations on which generations of groomers would follow.
After travelling to the United States and attending Intergroom in the early 1990s, Sheila returned home determined to see New Zealand grooming recognised on the world stage. From that vision came the National Dog Groomers Association of New Zealand, which Sheila founded to raise professional standards and create greater opportunities for education, certification and development for groomers.
Sheila went on to become an American National Certified Master Groomer, achieving an extraordinary overall result of 97%. She also competed internationally, bringing home both silver and bronze medals against some of the world’s leading groomers.
But perhaps Sheila’s greatest achievement was what she brought home and shared with others.
She developed examination and workshop programs for New Zealand groomers, established Groomalong competitions and educational workshops in New Zealand and Australia, and spent decades encouraging groomers to learn, compete, improve and strive for excellence.
Sheila was also part of a remarkable chapter in New Zealand grooming history when New Zealand sent its first team to the World GroomTeam Championships in Barcelona, helping establish a pathway for New Zealand groomers to represent their country internationally.
Her influence extended well beyond competition. Sheila advocated for education, professional standards, certification, animal welfare and recognition of grooming as a skilled profession. The certification and educational pathways available to New Zealand groomers today carry forward principles she championed decades ago.
She was also a lifelong dog person, with a history in breeding and showing stretching back to the 1950s. Under the Taff prefix, her dogs achieved more than 100 championships and over 100 All Breed Best in Show wins, another extraordinary legacy in its own right.
For those of us involved in the grooming industry today, it is important to remember the people who created opportunities before many of us had even entered the profession.
Sheila was one of those people.
Every groomer she educated, every competitor she encouraged, every person who achieved certification through a pathway she helped establish, and every New Zealand groomer who has proudly represented their country internationally forms part of her legacy.
Her work helped transform grooming from an occupation into a recognised professional community with standards, education, competition and pathways for excellence.
Our thoughts are with Sheila’s family, her many friends, colleagues, and all those throughout the grooming and dog communities who knew, loved and respected her.
We also extend our deepest condolences to the entire New Zealand grooming community as they farewell someone who gave so much to their industry.
Thank you, Sheila, for your vision, determination and decades of service to our industry.
Your contribution will not be forgotten.
Please go to Sheila’s page for the link to her memorial service in Christchurch New Zealand next Tuesday 29/9/2026 and leave some fond memories of a special lady.
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