Mission
Mission
To standardize and promote fair and equitable placement of contestants in professional dog grooming competitions agreed upon and accepted by a panel of three or more IJA judges.
History
Professional pet groomers and stylists have participated in dog grooming competitions for over 30 years. Industry leaders such as Shirlee Kalstone pioneered the first events, establishing a model for competition judging very similar to that used in AKC sanctioned dog shows.
As competitive dog grooming competitions became more popular, the contest ring expanded with professional groomers and stylists traveling the globe to participate in international competitions such as Intergroom, to earn the prestigious title of International Groomer of the Year.
With the growing number of contestants in the ring, the time frame required to choose the right dog created additional stress on the lone judge in the selection process, keeping contestants and competition dogs in the ring for hours.
As judges and contestants travelled internationally, judging became even more complex for the single judge as the need to know international breed standards was necessary, though many judges did not fully understand these standards. In fact, only a select few were qualified to judge international competition shows.
Show promoters also created their own set of very basic rules and ring procedures, leaving it up to the lone judge to fill in the blanks and to create his or her own individual judging procedures and system of evaluating the dogs. Just what the judges were looking for became more and more of a mystery for many contestants and also for the judges, since there was no means of training new and existing judges.
Judges were selected for their accomplishments in the competition ring, placed in judging assignments and asked to judge alone, making decisions based upon their own opinion rather than a consensus, thus creating decisions based upon their own personal likes and dislikes.
It was the quest for a panel system of judging, a system for training judges, including continued educational programs, and the need to standardize judging and ring procedures, that motivated two industry icons, Vivian and John Nash, to create the International Judges Association for Dog Grooming Competition.
Vivian and John Nash, owners of the Nash Academy, began with the creation of the first manual for judges to follow in the history of dog grooming competitions. Ring policies and procedures, including time frames for completing the judging, were addressed, along with individual job positions, creating the most professional competition ring that the industry had seen since the beginning of dog grooming competitions.
This manual created not just a more professional ring, but a more compassionate ring for both the competitor and the competition dog by setting time frames for judges to make their decisions.
Vivian and John Nash asked a group of international dog grooming contest judges to break tradition from the single judge system and join the International Judges Association (IJA), utilizing a panel system of judging.
1998
In 1998, the International Judges Association was formally established by Vivian and John Nash, its goal being to standardize and promote fair and equitable placement of contestants agreed upon and accepted by a panel of judges in professional dog grooming competitions.
This group of judges soon recognized that utilizing the collective expertise of their combined knowledge could be a powerful educational tool that could help fill the gap in upper level training.
Compassion for the competition dog and the competitor motivated this group of judges to perfect not just judging policies and procedures but also the contest procedures created by IJA to eliminate the long hours in the ring for the competitor and the competition dog. Judging decisions were made promptly and efficiently, creating a more professional ring.
Sally Liddick, show promoter and owner of Barkleigh Productions, saw the need for a panel system of judging and consistent rules, policies and procedures for her contest, and hosted the first IJA Sanctioned competition in Hershey Pennsylvania in 1998 at Groom Expo. Since then, Barkleigh has only used IJA to judge all of their competitions. IJA and the initial group of judges that worked so hard to make this a reality will forever be thankful for this unprecedented support.
Industry leaders Joey Villani, Kathy Rose, and Karin Kretchmer stepped in as core judges and worked together as a team, judging entire competitions to perfect the ring policies and procedures for IJA, creating the first professional judging team in the history of dog grooming competitions. Industry greats, such as Marea Tully, a past Groom Team member with multiple nominations for the Cardinal Crystal Achievement Award for Contest Judge of the Year, Judy Kurpiel, Director of IPG and also past groom team member, Masahiro Tsujihara, owner of the Sepia School in Japan, Melissa Verplank, past Groom Team member, and Judy Bremer Taxman, came on board to participate in this quest. As IJA grew, well known industry judges, such as Judy Breton, Teri Di Marino, Karla Addington Smith, Jarbas Godoy joined the IJA Team.
Since the inception, and with the help of Udo Kretchmer, husband of Karin Kretchmer, IJA has taken and recorded before and after digital photos of all entries at all their competitions, again being the first in the history of dog grooming competition to record this type of information
With more and more international judges coming on board, such as Naohisa Tsujihara, from Japan, and Gan Wy Et, from Malaysia, and in the pursuit of taking IJA judges to the highest level possible in breed knowledge and judging procedures, IJA appointed Shirlee Kalstone, the first lady of dog grooming as Director of Education, to assist them in overseeing their educational programs to bring the best that the industry has to offer internationally to teach the programs. .
Year - 2008
IJA celebrated its 10th anniversary at Groom Expo in Hershey, Pennsylvania, in September, 2008. Judges from around the world attended this prestigious event celebrating the 10 exciting years of IJA.
Year - 2009
John Nash, Co- founder of IJA passes after a long battle with cancer.
Year - 2011
IJA will induct its first member, John Nash, into the IJA Hall of Fame at Groom & Kennel Expo in February 2011.
IJA will conduct the first international certification competition with before and after photos and a scoring system.
To standardize and promote fair and equitable placement of contestants in professional dog grooming competitions agreed upon and accepted by a panel of three or more IJA judges.
History
Professional pet groomers and stylists have participated in dog grooming competitions for over 30 years. Industry leaders such as Shirlee Kalstone pioneered the first events, establishing a model for competition judging very similar to that used in AKC sanctioned dog shows.
As competitive dog grooming competitions became more popular, the contest ring expanded with professional groomers and stylists traveling the globe to participate in international competitions such as Intergroom, to earn the prestigious title of International Groomer of the Year.
With the growing number of contestants in the ring, the time frame required to choose the right dog created additional stress on the lone judge in the selection process, keeping contestants and competition dogs in the ring for hours.
As judges and contestants travelled internationally, judging became even more complex for the single judge as the need to know international breed standards was necessary, though many judges did not fully understand these standards. In fact, only a select few were qualified to judge international competition shows.
Show promoters also created their own set of very basic rules and ring procedures, leaving it up to the lone judge to fill in the blanks and to create his or her own individual judging procedures and system of evaluating the dogs. Just what the judges were looking for became more and more of a mystery for many contestants and also for the judges, since there was no means of training new and existing judges.
Judges were selected for their accomplishments in the competition ring, placed in judging assignments and asked to judge alone, making decisions based upon their own opinion rather than a consensus, thus creating decisions based upon their own personal likes and dislikes.
It was the quest for a panel system of judging, a system for training judges, including continued educational programs, and the need to standardize judging and ring procedures, that motivated two industry icons, Vivian and John Nash, to create the International Judges Association for Dog Grooming Competition.
Vivian and John Nash, owners of the Nash Academy, began with the creation of the first manual for judges to follow in the history of dog grooming competitions. Ring policies and procedures, including time frames for completing the judging, were addressed, along with individual job positions, creating the most professional competition ring that the industry had seen since the beginning of dog grooming competitions.
This manual created not just a more professional ring, but a more compassionate ring for both the competitor and the competition dog by setting time frames for judges to make their decisions.
Vivian and John Nash asked a group of international dog grooming contest judges to break tradition from the single judge system and join the International Judges Association (IJA), utilizing a panel system of judging.
1998
In 1998, the International Judges Association was formally established by Vivian and John Nash, its goal being to standardize and promote fair and equitable placement of contestants agreed upon and accepted by a panel of judges in professional dog grooming competitions.
This group of judges soon recognized that utilizing the collective expertise of their combined knowledge could be a powerful educational tool that could help fill the gap in upper level training.
Compassion for the competition dog and the competitor motivated this group of judges to perfect not just judging policies and procedures but also the contest procedures created by IJA to eliminate the long hours in the ring for the competitor and the competition dog. Judging decisions were made promptly and efficiently, creating a more professional ring.
Sally Liddick, show promoter and owner of Barkleigh Productions, saw the need for a panel system of judging and consistent rules, policies and procedures for her contest, and hosted the first IJA Sanctioned competition in Hershey Pennsylvania in 1998 at Groom Expo. Since then, Barkleigh has only used IJA to judge all of their competitions. IJA and the initial group of judges that worked so hard to make this a reality will forever be thankful for this unprecedented support.
Industry leaders Joey Villani, Kathy Rose, and Karin Kretchmer stepped in as core judges and worked together as a team, judging entire competitions to perfect the ring policies and procedures for IJA, creating the first professional judging team in the history of dog grooming competitions. Industry greats, such as Marea Tully, a past Groom Team member with multiple nominations for the Cardinal Crystal Achievement Award for Contest Judge of the Year, Judy Kurpiel, Director of IPG and also past groom team member, Masahiro Tsujihara, owner of the Sepia School in Japan, Melissa Verplank, past Groom Team member, and Judy Bremer Taxman, came on board to participate in this quest. As IJA grew, well known industry judges, such as Judy Breton, Teri Di Marino, Karla Addington Smith, Jarbas Godoy joined the IJA Team.
Since the inception, and with the help of Udo Kretchmer, husband of Karin Kretchmer, IJA has taken and recorded before and after digital photos of all entries at all their competitions, again being the first in the history of dog grooming competition to record this type of information
With more and more international judges coming on board, such as Naohisa Tsujihara, from Japan, and Gan Wy Et, from Malaysia, and in the pursuit of taking IJA judges to the highest level possible in breed knowledge and judging procedures, IJA appointed Shirlee Kalstone, the first lady of dog grooming as Director of Education, to assist them in overseeing their educational programs to bring the best that the industry has to offer internationally to teach the programs. .
Year - 2008
IJA celebrated its 10th anniversary at Groom Expo in Hershey, Pennsylvania, in September, 2008. Judges from around the world attended this prestigious event celebrating the 10 exciting years of IJA.
Year - 2009
John Nash, Co- founder of IJA passes after a long battle with cancer.
Year - 2011
IJA will induct its first member, John Nash, into the IJA Hall of Fame at Groom & Kennel Expo in February 2011.
IJA will conduct the first international certification competition with before and after photos and a scoring system.