Woman wins best in show for groomers

GLOUCESTER -- Oskar stands still as a statue while the sharp scissors clip perilously close to areas no dog wants snipped.

The 72-pound standard poodle issues not a bark, not a whimper. His sculpted helmet of black fur makes him look like those Buckingham Palace guards trained to remain stoic no matter how they are provoked.

``Good boy, Oskar," Julie Wilkins coos to him as she works. ``Good boy."

Maybe Oskar knows that he is in good hands up there on the grooming table. Wilkins, 27 and a Gloucester native, is the International Groomer of the Year, named from a field of about 50 at the Intergroom 2006 trade show in New Jersey in April.

Her apartment is dotted with trophies, ribbons, and snapshots marking her grooming-circuit wins, many in tandem with Emmy, her own ice-white poodle.

How big a deal is Intergroom?

Says American Kennel Club spokeswoman Gina Lash: ``Intergroom is one of the most prestigious events in the world of grooming. So to be named groomer of the year there is a huge thing."

It's not the dogs that are being judged, remember -- it's the groomers.

"You bring the dog to the ring all bathed and dried and combed through. You get 2 1/2 hours, and you do all your clipper and scissor work in the ring," Wilkins said. ``They judge you on your finish work -- can they pull out any stray hairs? Essentially you're sculpting the dog in the ring."

There's money in those snips, too, maybe $20,000 in prizes in the last couple of years, Wilkins said. She also works for a handful of clients as a groomer/handler of their show dogs.

But most of Wilkins's income comes from her one-woman business, Best In Show mobile dog grooming. She drives her van to homes in one of a half-dozen or so North Shore communities; many dog owners outside her range bring their pets to her apartment and she works on them while the van is parked in her driveway.

But don't get your hopes up for getting Fido an appointment. Wilkins has about 100 clients, and it's hard enough to schedule all her regulars. Her voicemail says you can get on the waiting list, but that's not enough for some.

``I've had people try to bribe me," Wilkins said with a laugh. ``I had a chiropractor call and offer me an adjustment. She said she's certified to do pets, too, and she said she'd do my dogs as well."

You take it?

``No, I put her on the list," Wilkins said. ``I don't have time, that's the thing."

Wilkins handles all kinds of dogs, but about a quarter are grooming-intensive standard poodles.

Poodles ``need it more, and I think a lot of people have heard about me through the grapevine," Wilkins said. ``People want them to look good."

She said Oskar's visit to the van is typical. That means two shampoos and a cream rinse and a blow dry. He gets his ears plucked and trimmed, and his nails trimmed. Plus he gets a sporting cut, also called a kennel cut, as distinct from the bikini cut or the show cut.

It all takes about two hours and costs around $100, plus tip. A small dog might take only an hour and cost $50. Wilkins has come a long way from her days studying horse care at Essex Agricultural High School.

She studied horse care primarily, but the regimen included one day a week of dog care. And she had found her calling, which happens to be a good business, too.

``My friend Cheryl always says pet grooming is basically recession-proof," Wilkins said. ``Even if you have bad times in the economy, people still like to have their dogs look pretty, just like they themselves still get a haircut."

The Oskar treatment is not as elaborate as Wilkins's work at a show like Intergroom.

``That's different than pet-trimming, where you just take a blade and you take down the body and scissor on the legs . . . When I do these contests I do a lot of scissor work, really cut in a lot of angles, do a real extreme tuck-up and a real big chest and lots of angulations in the rear. It's a little more stylish."

Wilkins's customers are loyal, visiting every six weeks on average.

``It's not cheap, but he always looks so good. He feels like velvet when she's finished," said Oskar's owner, Anne Wood of Swampscott.

That kind of comment is a big satisfaction, Wilkins said.

``I enjoy working with the dogs, but what's great, too, is when you bring the dog to the person and they're all over the dog. `Oh he looks so good!' They're just so appreciative," she said.

``What I love is when I have a new client, and I'm working with the dog for the first time, and he's had some horrendous trim the time before, and I kind of give him a makeover, and people are like, `Wow.' Most people are so into their dogs, when they get them back, that's like, really cool. Their dogs really are their kids."

Wilkins's interview is interrupted by a bank loan officer knocking on the door of the van. He's come to get some signatures on a loan for her new grooming van. She's trading in the Ford F350 with the paw print decals for a new F450 grooming van, basically a small school bus.

``It's got bigger windows, a bathroom, a microwave, a fridge, and a TV. I don't know what I'm going to do with those," Wilkins says.

``It also has a lot more space, so I can actually walk completely around the table, so I don't have to keep turning the dog."

As her own boss, Wilkins said, she has been able to ``weed out all the bad seeds." Most of her dogs, especially big ones like Oskar, are quite cooperative, although some don't like having their nails clipped.

If the best part of the job is the feedback from owners, the human element is also the worst part of the job, Wilkins said with a laugh.

``A lot of them are just really neurotic," she said. ``I think that's why so many of them love the service I offer. I come to their homes, I'm done in two hours. I ran into a lot more problems when I worked at grooming shops. They didn't want to leave them. . ."

Her other pet peeve with owners is what happens -- or doesn't happen -- between grooming appointments.

Wilkins's firm instruction to all North Shore dog owners: ``Brush your dogs! And make sure you get down to the skin when you brush them.

A lot of people are just surface-brushing. Curls are what causes matting, and a standard poodle's fur has a natural tendency to curl up. It will cord naturally if you let it, like dreadlocks on a person."

Her other enemy is ticks.

``I get dogs that are absolutely covered," she said. ``This guy today doesn't have any, but I had one yesterday, I picked, like, 10 off him. . . . When I go up to Boxford or Topsfield, they're really bad. They're hard to get rid of. They're like little tanks, they've got battle armor."