0:32

Hello , welcome back to Handling it . Today's

0:35

guest is Jacob Robinson . Hello

0:37

.

0:38

Hi , jacob , thanks so much

0:40

for coming on .

0:41

Yeah , we cannot wait to

0:43

talk to you and I love hearing

0:45

about everyone's stories and how they became a pet groomer

0:48

. And then you know , obviously

0:50

you're on Groom Team USA and all the good

0:52

stuff . Could you

0:54

like just share

0:57

to our audience how you started grooming

0:59

and is this something you always knew you wanted

1:01

to be ? Or what was your first

1:03

career choice and how

1:05

did you get here ? Like , let's start from

1:07

day one ?

1:10

Well , so I

1:12

my original career choice

1:15

, like when I was a senior in high school , was I wanted

1:17

to be an act teacher . I

1:19

was really involved in acting like showing

1:21

livestock in high school and like

1:24

I'm a very competitive person

1:26

and I didn't want to give up like

1:28

that part of like being competitive

1:30

. But and

1:33

I also was like really burnout

1:36

on school because , like I was a diehard

1:38

student , I worked really hard in school

1:40

and it just like I

1:42

was like I've already taken like two

1:45

concurrent college classes while I was going

1:47

to high school , I was like I don't want to go to

1:49

college , especially

1:52

to go make like no offense to any

1:54

teachers , but teachers are very underpaid

1:57

, yeah . And so

1:59

my girlfriend

2:01

at the time actually she

2:04

, her family , were

2:06

groomers and stuff

2:09

so she kind of showed me some things and

2:13

a salon was hiring

2:15

and I just went and applied

2:17

and the rest

2:19

was history . I kind of was

2:22

self taught and then I I learned

2:24

from like I learned from

2:27

some people . I got

2:29

mentored by some really good like old school

2:31

show people in the beginning and I

2:33

think that really helped shape me

2:35

towards the direction I've gone

2:38

. But , yeah

2:40

, it's kind of my beginning into grooming

2:42

story , so this

2:45

will be your 10 now , so 10

2:47

.

2:47

Okay , when are you located that

2:49

you're in agriculture , is it ?

2:52

I know where you're at .

2:53

Yeah , oklahoma , I just wanted other people

2:55

. I'm from Iowa and

2:58

4-H in agriculture and showing things and

3:00

is that how you were like competitive

3:03

with showing livestock like sheep or something

3:05

like that ?

3:07

Yeah , well , I mainly showed cattle

3:10

and I livestock , judged a lot

3:12

Okay , evaluated

3:15

livestock and structure kind of how they do

3:17

dog shows .

3:20

I've been to some cattle shows and sheep shows

3:22

and like the state fair in Iowa

3:25

was just like a week ago , and

3:27

to see like the cow grooming that

3:29

they do . Did you do anything

3:31

like that to get them ready ?

3:33

Yeah , yeah . So actually in Oklahoma they

3:35

have like fitting contests for high

3:37

school , wow , and there's like a team

3:39

and they get an hour and a half to like fit

3:42

and it's like full , like doing a show , like

3:44

you hairspray the leg and glue

3:46

them and then you color them , yeah

3:49

, and like you'll even add like fake fibers

3:51

to build the hair up if they don't have

3:53

hair .

3:55

You've known structure for like a long time

3:57

. Like yeah

4:00

.

4:00

I think the

4:02

livestock judging and my high

4:04

school ag teacher . I attribute so

4:06

much of like what I know about dogs

4:08

to him Because he taught me so

4:10

much . I'm like how to fit cattle

4:13

and stuff like that that . It really

4:15

helped me transfer that knowledge over

4:17

.

4:18

Yeah , I think that's really good .

4:20

And so we're talking

4:22

right now and you're like sitting in your salon . This

4:25

is your salon that you own , right ? So

4:28

how did you go from so ? You started

4:31

at one salon where you kind of learned everything

4:33

. How did you get to this point today where

4:35

you have your own shop ?

4:41

Just a hard

4:43

work and determination . I was kind of always determined

4:45

to own my own

4:47

salon and when

4:50

COVID happened I

4:52

was just like all of a sudden unemployed

4:54

. Yeah , and I was like

4:57

what

5:00

am I going to do with like

5:02

my life after this ? Because I just went through

5:04

like several like big life changes

5:07

and I just moved back to like my hometown

5:09

Because I was living

5:11

in Tulsa and

5:13

the groomer in town closed down

5:15

through COVID , which was really sad for her

5:17

.

5:20

But , her space was available , yeah

5:23

, and her . All those clients got to go somewhere .

5:25

Yeah , my grandpa knows

5:28

the guy who owns the strip mall that was

5:30

in and he was like this

5:32

groomer just left and it's all like set up

5:34

for a groomer . Do you guys like I know your

5:36

grandson grooms , do you want to

5:39

? Just ? And he

5:41

like made me a really good deal and so I

5:43

took my two stimulus checks

5:45

and put it into a grooming salon and

5:48

that was how every five canines was born

5:50

.

5:53

That's so nice . So , yeah , you basically

5:56

a lot of people like COVID

5:58

was like a loss for them , but

6:00

you got like you turned it into something good

6:02

, so that's , that's a good thing yeah

6:05

. All you can do is make the best of any

6:08

situation you're given . So , but

6:10

you now you have your salon . Can you

6:12

tell us how you started competing

6:15

and what that looked like for you ?

6:16

Yeah , Um

6:18

, so I'd only been grooming like probably

6:21

a year and I had just

6:23

gotten my first standard poodle

6:25

and

6:27

I was going to like confirmation

6:30

handling classes with my poodle and

6:32

then I saw that there was like the pet pro

6:35

classic in Dallas and that

6:37

they had grooming

6:39

contests and I was like , wow

6:43

, I

6:45

should go try that . Yeah

6:48

, I was just like I said . I was very

6:50

competitive and I'm like , well

6:52

, I want to be the best at everything I do , so that's

6:54

the only way I feel like I can get

6:57

there . And

6:59

so I went to the pet pro

7:01

classic in 2014 .

7:03

Wow .

7:05

And that was my first contest .

7:07

How did you do it Amazing ?

7:10

Um , I got first in both classes . I did

7:12

a one .

7:13

Wow , I was casually , that's

7:15

good . He's

7:18

like I've been winning ever since .

7:20

It was a really good first time experience

7:23

. I look back at those and I'm like , oh my

7:25

God .

7:26

I think we all did that .

7:29

But yeah , it was good

7:31

. And then I went to Atlanta and

7:34

I took five dogs

7:36

to Atlanta to compete with Wow .

7:39

Second time .

7:41

And then I placed in rescue rodeo or

7:43

rescue roundup , and that was it . None

7:46

of the class dogs I took I placed

7:48

with and I did every single

7:50

class , which was a terrible idea . New

7:52

competitors , if you're listening to this , do not do

7:54

that .

7:55

It's a lot . No , it's so overwhelming

7:57

, especially if you're like by yourself to

8:00

like load up all those dogs

8:02

and all those kennels and then prep for yourself

8:04

. It becomes a lot .

8:06

Do you do dog tours ? Yeah , yeah

8:09

.

8:09

I ended up the weekend , I was like sat down

8:11

in the hallway of the hotel that

8:13

I was in . I wasn't even to my room

8:15

yet and I just like finished prepping

8:17

my Cocker and I like sat

8:19

on the floor in the hallway and I was

8:21

just like . I need to take a break . I

8:24

need just a minute . I'm going to sit here

8:26

, and that's actually how I became

8:28

friends with Helen Schaefer . She

8:30

saw me sitting down and she

8:33

hands me a Coke . And

8:36

she just handed me a Coke . I really

8:38

needed this . You have no idea , girl .

8:41

Oh , Helen .

8:43

That's so nice .

8:45

So when you just jumped into these contests

8:48

, did you have any friends like that

8:50

, like we're helplers , or you really were

8:52

? You just saw there's a contest , you went

8:54

, you figured out how to do entries by yourself

8:56

. You showed up , you figured out how to prep . Like who

8:59

helped you ? Was there anyone to like

9:01

show you the way ? Because

9:03

I my first show was pet pro classic

9:06

Nobody showed me the way . I was the dumb

9:08

person . That was like it's not dumb If

9:10

anyone does this , but I was the one . So

9:12

where do I go on base ? Where do I go

9:14

? They says there's like a meeting

9:17

to come check in . Nobody's here , like a

9:19

pet pro classic . Nobody actually has that meeting

9:21

, but you're there for the meeting .

9:25

So I'm just wondering did you have somebody

9:27

just kind of like to guide you or

9:30

not really in

9:33

Oklahoma , especially like

9:35

contest crew means not really a thing , like

9:37

a lot of groomers don't even know . And

9:42

I became friends

9:44

with Scott Wasserman and

9:46

he kind of mentored me into

9:49

like figuring

9:52

it out . And I made friends at the contest

9:54

. Like I'm like , oh , wow , it

9:56

was Kelly night and I'm like , wow , that girl

9:58

, that lady is really good at grooming poodles

10:01

. I'm going to talk to her because I want to groom a poodle

10:03

like her . Yeah , and she kind

10:05

of helped me . And then , like Melissa class

10:07

was there and she helped

10:09

me and Scott , but

10:12

I didn't have any pre help before

10:14

, like I didn't even know we could use a fate

10:16

or the sanitary and

10:18

the feet .

10:20

So like my dog .

10:21

I had to like shave the dog right before the

10:23

class , start the feet right before the class started

10:25

, because I know .

10:27

But yeah , that's impressive though

10:29

.

10:30

That's very impressive , yeah , yeah

10:32

, and you showed up in one . You

10:34

were just like hooked and you started going to shows

10:36

all the time , or like because you're on groom team USA

10:39

now , and so for people who don't know how

10:41

that works , like you have to

10:43

beat , go from injury to intermediate and

10:45

from intermediate to open , and then you have to place

10:47

an open so many times to get

10:49

points .

10:50

So like where you just hooked after that and you

10:52

just kept competing , or so

10:55

my competing like journey I

10:57

guess we'll call it her adventure was

11:00

kind of it's kind of been broken up over

11:02

years like 2014

11:05

. I competed pretty

11:07

heavy like 2014 to 2015

11:10

. I competed pretty heavily

11:12

and then I got into

11:14

open after

11:16

like in that year and

11:21

I got like up and coming groomer of the year that

11:23

year from Barkley and

11:25

it was a really , really cool year . And

11:28

then I got into open

11:33

and I

11:35

hit my dead zone , what I call it like

11:37

that's where I live right now . Well

11:44

, it's just like

11:47

a lot of people like you think you're ready

11:49

for open , like oh ,

12:49

I want to get out of intermediate , so bad , and I want to

12:51

be an open . And

12:53

then you get there and you're just like all these

12:55

dogs are really pretty .

12:57

Yeah .

12:58

And look really good and

13:01

like it doesn't look like there's a hair out of place

13:03

on like five of them .

13:05

Yeah , it's like you know , when you're in

13:07

middle school and you get to eighth grade and you're

13:09

like I can't wait to be in high school , like it's going to be so

13:11

amazing , and then you're just like a freshman

13:14

and you're like starting from

13:16

the bottom again , like you just have to start all over . That's

13:18

kind of how it feels .

13:21

Yeah , yeah , and so

13:23

I just did

13:25

like probably two or three shows a year for

13:28

until like the

13:30

last three years really , and

13:33

there were some years like I didn't do any shows

13:35

, just because of like life , yeah

13:38

.

13:38

Yeah .

13:40

Man , you know , but here

13:42

lately I've been hitting it pretty heavy .

13:44

Yeah , you have been .

13:46

Yeah .

13:47

You've been killing it .

13:48

Yeah , oh thanks . It's

13:50

exhausting . You know how people

13:53

have been . There's some competitors that have been competing

13:55

for 10 years like this

13:57

, and I'm like how do they do this ?

14:00

And they make it look so easy and it's hard

14:02

and just like getting to shows is hard and

14:04

it's a lot . Yeah

14:06

, fighting the dogs , yeah

14:08

, yeah .

14:10

But you're also like leaving to go compete and you're gone for like

14:12

a week and so that's like a week of income

14:14

you don't have , unless you're like a full

14:17

ride sponsorship rumor and I could

14:19

like maybe think of two people that have

14:21

that yeah . So

14:24

like , yeah , that's what something will . One I

14:26

have children but two like it's

14:28

really hard to do

14:31

all of it or even do shows a year

14:33

is really where I was at and

14:36

so like , who does to you guys for

14:38

doing all of that ? It's exhausting

14:40

just thinking about it . I'm not even doing it .

14:44

Yeah .

14:44

So you

14:47

recently came back from an injury , right Cause

14:49

I know you were out for a while due to like a

14:51

. Was it an injury or an accident ? Can

14:53

you tell us a little bit about that ?

14:56

Yeah , so in

14:58

Palmetto hold

15:01

on , I think it was Palmetto of 2022

15:04

. It was in like January of 2022

15:07

. There was a Palmetto grooming contest

15:09

and I

15:11

went to that and competed

15:13

and had a pretty good contest , and

15:16

that was in January . And then I was entered in Atlanta

15:19

and literally the

15:21

week of Atlanta I

15:23

was on the way home and it was the

15:25

week of my birthday too , and I was on the way home

15:27

from getting a tattoo , but that was my

15:29

birthday present to myself and

15:32

I hydroplained my car

15:34

and wrecked I

15:36

tore my rotator cuff my bicep

15:38

. I broke my other , the hand

15:40

on my other side .

15:43

Oh my goodness , yeah , yeah , it

15:46

was a crazy experience .

15:48

What kind of recovery .

15:50

Was that Like how long of a recovery

15:52

? You broke your hand and all that so you

15:54

couldn't groom right , yeah

15:56

, so the rotator cuff was actually the big

15:58

thing .

15:59

So , like normally , when someone

16:01

tears the rotator cuff , it's normally

16:03

from , like it's like an older

16:05

person and it's like they have a bone

16:07

spur . That's like slowly like

16:09

kind of shredded their rotator cuff . Well

16:12

, mine , with my accident

16:14

, I have like the

16:17

death grip of a

16:19

Viking because of the dogs that we hold

16:21

onto all day long , you know . And so

16:23

what I did is I hydroplined

16:26

and then I went down this really steep

16:28

hill like into a ditch , and

16:31

I came up the other side of the ditch and

16:33

hit a tree . Well , I was locked

16:36

onto the steering wheel and

16:38

so my arm took the

16:40

impact of .

16:42

Yeah .

16:43

And so my like , my arm stayed straight

16:45

and then my body like went forward

16:47

past my

16:49

shoulders Like your rotator cuff

16:51

is like all the ligaments that attach

16:54

your arm to your shoulder

16:56

, and so I ripped all those

16:58

off and my bicep .

17:00

Oh my gosh that was very

17:02

visual .

17:04

And so I go in and I

17:06

thought I like , cause my arm was just on

17:08

fire , like it burns , right

17:10

after it happened and I couldn't remember anything

17:12

, cause , like I had had I hit the windshield

17:14

with my head and yeah , I couldn't

17:16

remember anything . And I'm like freaking out

17:19

. I call my mom , my poor

17:21

mother . I freaked her out so

17:23

bad when this happened to me . But

17:25

so

17:27

, anyways , I get to the hospital

17:30

and I thought I had like , fractured my collarbone

17:32

or something Like . I

17:34

didn't know what that feels like , but it's just like

17:36

my shoulders on fire and like you're thinking , oh

17:38

, it's your collarbone .

17:40

Yeah .

17:41

Like I broke my collarbone and

17:43

they do a scan like no , nothing's broken in your

17:45

shoulder , and I'm like well , I can't move my arm , literally

17:47

Like I could move my wrist

17:50

, but that was it . Like the rest

17:52

of my arm like there was no

17:54

function cause the

17:56

tendons aren't there to like make it move , or

17:59

your biceps not there to make it go like up

18:01

and down .

18:02

What hand or what arm was that ? So you're left or right , your dominant

18:05

one , or it was my right , yeah , my scissor

18:07

oh shit , shit I'm

18:09

like you can , yeah .

18:10

And so I go in and

18:13

they tell me that

18:15

it's gonna be four months before

18:18

I can go back to work From

18:20

when I have this surgery . So I had to wait

18:23

three weeks to have this surgery because

18:26

they had to get the swelling

18:28

down enough , and so

18:30

it was gonna be like five

18:32

months total I had to be off work .

18:35

Oh , my goodness .

18:36

And you have been gone , and this is the week of

18:38

Atlanta .

18:39

Yeah , and I was just feeling like

18:41

yeah , I was just feeling good old team

18:43

and yeah , oh , wait

18:46

a minute .

18:46

Like at this point you already owned

18:48

your salon , right yeah ?

18:50

Uh-huh . So what did you do ?

18:52

Like , how did you navigate that yeah .

18:55

Well , luckily , I had

18:57

a good friend that was a groomer and she

18:59

was like a

19:02

stay at home mom at the time , okay

19:04

, and so she kind of came out of stay at

19:06

home mom for three days a week and worked at my

19:08

salon for three days a week to like keep the

19:10

doors open , basically . Wow , that's

19:13

so sweet Because , like I couldn't

19:15

function at all with my right arm and I

19:18

was the sole groomer at the time , I had an

19:20

assistant who bathed and like prepped

19:22

for me , but I did like everything else .

19:25

Stay home . So

19:28

what was going through your mind at that time

19:30

? Your arm is pretty much like at this

19:32

point . Six months you might be able

19:34

to like , yes , dog grooming . But like you had a

19:36

whole contest career and you were coming back Like

19:38

that was like the year you were kind of doing

19:40

more than two or three shows a year . Right

19:43

Was this year .

19:46

Yeah , it was honestly devastating

19:48

Like it was . I

19:50

went to a really dark place . I'm not gonna lie

19:52

, it was very like hard mentally

19:55

for me to do . Like cause

19:57

I also had , like this , carrie Blue , who I wanted

19:59

to show . And like I was gonna

20:01

miss all of these shows because of this

20:03

, and like strapped financially

20:06

because , like I

20:08

mean , you can't work . So yeah

20:11

.

20:13

Oh my .

20:14

Yeah , so it was just . It was a big learning

20:16

experience . It definitely made me a stronger

20:18

person . I can . I

20:20

definitely know what I can endure and survive

20:23

now , which is more than those people think

20:25

. Yeah .

20:26

Yeah .

20:27

Yeah , wow .

20:30

Let's talk about yeah , let's talk about the accolades

20:32

you've been climbing just recently

20:34

and your , what was

20:36

the Barkley Honor Award , the

20:40

nominee that you just received

20:42

? I'm like blanking out .

20:44

I'm not groove over here , yeah , yeah .

20:48

That's huge .

20:49

Yes , and like that yeah

20:51

it was really exciting .

20:54

It was kind of it was kind of a weird deal because

20:56

it was like they accidentally

20:58

miscounted and like I was found

21:00

on like the miscount , which is fine Accidents

21:03

happen .

21:04

It's nice , yeah , nice little bit of drama

21:06

just to add to the to the name .

21:08

Well , when you went back to work , did you like

21:12

, how did it take

21:14

you longer to get into the

21:16

technique and give like hand-cissoring

21:18

and all the things ? So like the vibration

21:20

of the tools , like was it hard , like did you have to

21:23

relearn it ? Did you do therapy ?

21:24

Yeah , so

21:27

I actually had to do therapy

21:29

, like four days a week of therapy

21:31

, for two hours every

21:34

week every week for the first like two months

21:36

, and

21:38

I had a great , great

21:41

occupational therapist . Her name was

21:43

Kate . I love you , kate . If you ever listened

21:45

to this , I'm gonna send this to her . Oh , she

21:48

really helped me through some dark moments

21:50

Cause , like

21:52

you think that , oh , they

21:54

reattached these ligaments and my arm's just gonna be

21:56

normal , like I

21:58

could not when

22:01

I was driving , I could not let

22:03

my right arm sit on

22:05

the steering wheel without it

22:07

like making me want to cry . Like

22:10

the first when I was first like able

22:12

to use it , like it was the most painful and

22:15

like humbling

22:17

experience in my life . But

22:22

I actually went back to work sooner than

22:24

I was supposed to , because my

22:27

the groomer that I had

22:29

filling in and it was just like overwhelming

22:31

her cause I'm a

22:33

power groomer and I groom like 10

22:35

or 12 a day with a bather and so

22:38

she does like six small

22:40

dogs and but she was

22:43

trying to like do more and help me because

22:45

, like she sees all these clients

22:47

wanting to get in my salon and they can't

22:49

. So I

22:51

started I was actually still in my sling

22:54

and I was grooming small

22:56

dogs . No , you're laughing

22:58

, but they actually

23:00

told me that , like they think the

23:02

scissoring and stuff earlier , while

23:04

I wasn't supposed to do it , it

23:07

did help my like therapy

23:10

progress faster Because I have

23:12

more mobility now than my doctor

23:15

ever thought I was going to , is what he told

23:17

me .

23:18

Wow , wow . That's impressive

23:20

, but also super sad and tragic all

23:22

at the same time . I had to go through

23:24

all of that .

23:26

Yeah , and like you , your whole

23:28

life had to stop . It's not just your business

23:31

or just like competing these like Professional

23:33

goals . You had , like your whole entire life that

23:35

had to be put on pause , like

23:37

that is . That is a lot .

23:40

Yeah , I actually had a really

23:42

cool like it was already paid for

23:44

Like two week long trip

23:46

in Europe and we were supposed to leave

23:49

, like . So I was going to Atlanta , coming

23:51

home from Atlanta , dropping my dogs off at the

23:53

border for two weeks and

23:55

then I was going to Europe and

23:58

it was like paid for me and my

24:00

boyfriend and my best friend , we were all gonna

24:02

go . It was like Amsterdam , paris

24:04

and London , yeah

24:07

, and we had to cancel it because of my

24:09

injury . But they're

24:11

insurance on the trip at least yeah

24:14

, we got all of it back except $300

24:19

, but still , I'd rather like have

24:21

the experience rather than Did

24:25

you guys ever rebook it ? No

24:27

, we haven't , because like

24:30

dog grooming competitions have

24:32

taken over my life , but Well

24:36

, you're doing a lot can we talk about ?

24:38

yeah , let's talk about the

24:40

accolades you've been climbing just recently

24:43

and you're what was

24:45

the Barclay honor award ?

24:48

That was good .

24:49

Yeah , you have all these things

24:51

happening , but like I want to talk about because

24:54

you went from this horrible accident to

24:56

like doing all these amazing things

24:58

and just like , how do you have the

25:00

mental strength to like come back like that ? Because

25:02

I know Most people

25:04

I'm assuming like after something like that

25:06

, it would take them probably years to get back into

25:09

like competing or just like

25:11

anything like that . So can

25:13

you talk a little bit about like Pretty

25:15

much like your perseverance from that

25:17

to like becoming groomer of the year

25:20

, because that's a really like amazing feat

25:22

.

25:25

I'm really stubborn , I so

25:29

like the year before I got my accident

25:32

, I missed groomed team by

25:34

like two points

25:36

or like a point or something

25:38

, and and it was like all , there was like

25:40

four of us that were all really close that year

25:42

, yeah and . Like

25:45

if I would have been one higher place at Dallas

25:47

that year . I would have made group teamer . You

25:49

know , I don't even remember now , but

25:52

so I said the next year . I said I

25:54

am not missing it another year

25:56

. Okay and

25:58

so I went back to work and I was at

26:01

work and I like I had a

26:03

poodle in Shoko when I my injury

26:05

started and then she was in a modern

26:07

trim by like the end of my injury

26:09

and

26:11

so I had her and I

26:13

had my carry and

26:15

I have this wire , dawson , and Dallas was

26:18

coming and I was like you

26:21

know what , let's , let's

26:24

do it , we're gonna go to , we're gonna go to

26:26

Dallas and we're gonna try , yeah

26:28

. And then Dallas went okay

26:30

, and I placed with my carry and I I

26:33

was like , well , there's one more left

26:35

. And that was like the groom South show

26:37

that Snuck up on all

26:39

of us at the end of last year and

26:42

so I went to that and it was just , I Don't

26:46

know , just putting one foot in front of the other and

26:48

I , I , just I . In

26:50

really hard situations , I just kind of try

26:52

to find something to focus on and

26:55

don't look at anything else . Yeah

26:57

, she can't look at the past because you can't change it , so

26:59

you just have to keep looking , for I

27:01

don't know yeah there was definitely

27:03

some dark moments and some hard moments , but

27:06

I have really good family

27:08

, really really good family

27:10

. I have a really good boyfriend and

27:13

just a really good support system at home and

27:15

it helped a lot .

27:17

Yeah .

27:19

But so , yeah

27:22

. I just , I guess , just Binding

27:24

goals and keeping your eyes

27:27

on them . There's

27:29

a will , there's a way , I guess yeah

27:31

and you showed it you have the will .

27:35

Yeah , cuz even putting out like the most

27:37

beautiful work I've seen , like

27:39

recently . So I love

27:41

watching you and and every time I'm

27:43

on Facebook I feel like I've never

27:45

it shows anymore . But I always like , yes

27:48

, like every time I see I can have my favorites

27:50

and you're definitely one of them . So I

27:54

. But

27:57

you're definitely one of my favorite

27:59

. Um Anything

28:01

coming up for you , um anything

28:04

any new cool .

28:06

You're on groom team USA now , like

28:10

I really want to Take

28:13

on some new categories

28:15

and really feel like I'm Like

28:17

feeling confident in those . Like

28:21

when I say new categories , I mean like wire

28:23

and sporting , mm-hmm

28:26

, and

28:28

I have

28:31

like a new sponsorship coming , I'm coming

28:33

or coming out , so I'm

28:35

really excited about that . And

28:37

Just the rest

28:39

of this year , I mean there's still like

28:41

five shows left , so there's a lot left to happen

28:43

and I'm just kind of excited to see what it brings

28:45

. I don't know that is exciting .

28:48

You have a Schnauzer now . Right

28:50

, you have a mini schnauzer .

28:52

Yeah , yeah , yeah , mr

28:54

Ernie , he's like six months old .

28:57

Yeah , you know what his first show will be .

29:02

It was gonna be the

29:04

weekend of Hershey , but now I'm going to Hershey

29:06

so he doesn't get to get shown . So

29:09

I don't know , it'll depend on grooming

29:12

contest kind of rule my life . So

29:14

, doc , shows just get to happen when those don't , you

29:16

know . Yeah , so

29:18

It'll just kind of depend

29:20

on that .

29:22

Hey , okay

29:24

, so you were nominated for groomer of the

29:26

year . Can you tell us about , like your

29:29

journey to get there , like who some of your mentors

29:31

were , who are some people that

29:33

you've learned from ? Who are some people that you

29:36

haven't learned from yet , that you would still like to learn

29:38

from ?

29:40

Oh so mentor

29:42

wise , I am like

29:44

Facebook messenger

29:48

dog picture

29:50

person , if there ever was

29:52

one , and

29:54

if you ask like Scott Wasserman or Lisa Leedy

29:56

, they would probably Be

29:59

like in the top category of

30:01

like who mentored you know . So I was in my

30:03

younger years , lisa probably

30:06

has , and Scott to Do 300

30:09

photos of like , screenshots

30:11

of my dogs , or like . Can you draw

30:13

on this or like ?

30:15

Yeah , this , I do the same same

30:18

.

30:20

So those , those were like the earlier

30:22

ones . Sarah moon also helped

30:24

me a lot in those in my beginning years

30:27

. She was kind of an open-level competitor

30:29

I really looked up to and

30:34

here in more recent years

30:36

, someone

30:39

I've really admired

30:41

and tried to learn from , as

30:44

Pina , her , irina

30:46

pinkus of itch , as I don't

30:48

know she has on Facebook , but she

30:51

is just like a wealth of knowledge and a

30:53

great person and We'll

30:56

just , if you will

30:58

learn , she will teach it , man .

31:01

I yeah .

31:04

I'm so grateful to her for that

31:06

. She gave me a mini

31:08

poodle lesson . It was at my first

31:11

Carrie blue specialty . It was at Carrie

31:13

fest and it was like sprinkling

31:16

rain , cold

31:18

under a tent

31:20

in Missouri . And

31:22

it's like freezing cold and it's like

31:24

5 30 in the morning and she's

31:26

giving me a grooming lesson on a mini poodle .

31:30

Oh .

31:31

Like the nicest mentor ever .

31:33

I don't know see you say that

31:35

like fast forward a couple years , and you literally

31:37

just did that for me , so like that's

31:40

so cool .

31:42

Yeah , yeah , I always try to give

31:44

back or help when I can . I love seeing them

31:46

Nice people succeed

31:49

, so .

31:50

Yeah , who are some of your other like favorite

31:53

, like groomers that you really look up to ?

31:56

Um , I would say Michelle

31:59

Evans . I really respect her as

32:01

a judge . Just really good

32:03

. She's like . The integrity

32:05

and Knowledge that woman

32:08

has is , I think , unparalleled

32:10

by a lot of people Julie

32:14

Wilkins and Martin

32:17

, I Just

32:20

think they're they're grooming queens

32:22

and they're just hard to talk . Heather

32:25

Bruzey she , you

32:28

talk about a hand stripper man like I

32:30

respect .

32:31

Oh yeah , her Airdale . Oh my

32:33

gosh , so gorgeous .

32:35

Yeah , she's amazing and , of course , like Lindsay

32:37

Dickens , like that girl , she can

32:40

groom anything and make it look

32:42

like spectator , like

32:44

.

32:46

Oh , that's like one of my goals is to be able to

32:48

be at that point . We're like just any breed

32:50

, like if I can just take it and make it look

32:52

good , like that is . That's seriously goals

32:54

for me .

32:55

Same I want that's , that's

32:57

my goal , like I don't want to be a groomer

32:59

known for like the

33:02

one dog , of course , like Lindsay's , known for B Sean's

33:04

, but everyone knows like she

33:06

can do everything .

33:08

Yeah , well , was it just last competition

33:10

that I was at Chicago like the night

33:13

before was like anyone , have a hand stripping

33:15

dog .

33:15

I'm .

33:15

Facebook and she like had like four different

33:17

options and she just like nailed it

33:19

. I'm like , wow , I would have been like having

33:22

a stroke trying to figure out how to groom

33:24

this dog , but nope , she's like I'll take whatever

33:26

. Yeah , those

33:28

are some big names . I know Pina

33:31

is like on my list . I want to take a lesson

33:34

or a class from her . She's definitely . But

33:36

like I think every single one that you

33:38

listed is someone I

33:40

would love to just be honored to take a lesson

33:43

from .

33:44

Um yeah , and I think

33:46

like Not

33:48

to like Get on a tangent

33:51

, but I think a lot of like newer rumors forget

33:53

about those people . I'm

33:55

like , yeah , so

33:57

that was like old-school

33:59

, like bad asses that are not utilized

34:02

, and I'm like we need to utilize these people

34:04

more .

34:05

That was my next question . I was gonna ask

34:08

, like , what advice would you give to

34:10

, like a new competitor or somebody who

34:12

Wants to compete ? That's just starting

34:14

out . What would you tell them ?

34:18

Yeah , I would just say , Like

34:21

, when you ask for

34:23

a critique or you what ? When

34:25

you compete , always get

34:27

a critique , no matter what . If

34:30

, like if you think you've arrived nine

34:32

times to Sunday , still

34:35

get the freaking critique , write it down

34:37

and never enter into the judge again . But

34:39

you will always know , like what

34:42

they like , what they didn't like , and

34:44

you'll have that for the future . And when

34:46

you're like looking at someone to get like a lesson

34:49

from or Advice

34:52

from or knowledge from , really

34:55

like consider the source , take

34:58

their opinion , like

35:01

try to find the value and everything , because I truly

35:03

believe you can learn something from everyone . And and

35:06

then you also have to decide

35:08

, like what you're gonna keep from

35:11

that and what you're not . But

35:15

, yeah , just really consider the source and look at like

35:17

what , the , what value they bring and what's

35:19

behind their opinion . I

35:21

guess I would say I think that's

35:23

great .

35:23

I should yeah , citate

35:26

these people .

35:28

Yeah , like

35:30

if they say they're a poodles breed specialist

35:32

, like they better have a chicken

35:34

poodle or yeah , no

35:38

, I .

35:39

I love that . I think that's such good Advice

35:42

to anybody you

35:46

mentioned about . You have a new

35:48

Ambassadorship coming up

35:51

. Can you give us the deets

35:53

on who who's in back , who

35:56

you're being a brand ambassador for ?

35:59

Yeah , so I had

36:02

that sort of wrecked . They contacted

36:04

me and they

36:07

kind of are trying to do like

36:09

um , I Don't

36:11

know , I don't want to try to sound special

36:14

, but they're just really trying to like they

36:16

took a lot of outside input and tried

36:18

to create an ambassador ship that's really

36:20

gonna like help push For

36:23

. It's an education , along with like

36:25

their brand and Like

36:28

some new products that wanted to develop . So I'm

36:30

really excited about that and

36:34

like getting to like Look

36:36

at products and new products and

36:38

test them out .

36:39

It's really exciting .

36:40

It's so fun to me trial

36:43

on Like

36:45

I am like a great person to be

36:47

a trial and error person with brushes

36:50

and combs , because I have like 600

36:52

and they're all on my

36:54

table at all times , so yeah

36:58

, you want the honest people like to

37:00

help you , Product test them to

37:02

you .

37:02

Don't want to be a yes man because that's their

37:04

name on something you know and if you're

37:07

just being a yes man . Then they have this brush

37:09

. That's just kind of float in and nobody

37:11

actually likes it . But they bought it because you

37:13

said to , and so I think yeah

37:16

pet store direct is very lucky to have

37:18

you . I actually Is

37:20

it to me Domingo or Domingo ? I can

37:22

never say his name in a lot of . Domenico

37:24

, thank you . Yeah , I've met them a couple times

37:26

and there's like the sweetest people in the world

37:29

.

37:29

So that's so exciting

37:31

, good for you , I think , I actually

37:33

I believe it's Dominic .

37:35

Dominic yes . I'm

37:45

gonna see him in September here in a couple weeks

37:47

, so I'll make sure he

37:49

could tell us then . Yeah

37:52

that we murdered his name . That's okay

37:55

, that's buddy , yeah

37:57

. Oh . So are you gonna do some like booth

37:59

work , like are they gonna get a table in their

38:01

booth and Do

38:04

stuff like that too ?

38:06

Um , I don't know it's it's hard

38:08

because I do so many classes . It shows

38:10

, yeah , like grooming , come up , competition classes

38:13

, that it's really hard

38:15

, like Even if I'm only

38:17

doing three classes that morning , like

38:20

, oh yeah , that one morning you do have office

38:22

, really nice to like sleep in and then

38:24

prep your dog later . So

38:27

I don't know if we'll get to do much of that , but we

38:29

really . We hope to have some like private seminars

38:31

and yeah stuff like that

38:34

, yeah , so

38:36

I'm excited about that .

38:39

You think they'll be like the social media . A

38:42

lot of people I see a lot of companies are

38:44

doing like the the tiktok Instagram

38:47

, real like social media , education videos

38:49

. Is that something you think you'll do for them as well ?

38:53

I might try . I am really bad

38:56

self same

38:58

so I try

39:01

. It doesn't always turn out great

39:03

and I'm like hyper critical . I have

39:05

imposters . It's really bad , like it's

39:07

On me

39:09

man and so I Pick

39:12

apart my grooms , even if it's a pet trip

39:14

, like like today . I was gonna post this

39:17

like mini Aussie on my business

39:19

Facebook page and there was like one Hair

39:23

on the ear that is like sticking

39:25

up and I'm like I Can't

39:28

post . No

39:30

one's gonna know what's gonna notice this hair , that's

39:36

buddy . So I might try to do some

39:38

like of the tips and

39:40

tricks videos .

39:41

I've done some in the past , yeah

39:43

, I think you should , because

39:46

the audience you're reaching it to isn't a

39:48

whole bunch of contest groomers Like I think that's

39:50

the biggest thing to remember is you're actually helping a

39:52

lot of people , and those 20

39:54

second , 30 second videos , like

39:56

they could gain that one thing , so

39:58

yeah , yeah there's

40:01

people .

40:02

Yeah . I'm say , there's those people who are just like you

40:04

, like at that first show you ever went to , and

40:06

you're like Scared and you're confused

40:09

and just like just to know that

40:11

there's somebody that maybe you're just internet friends

40:13

with , that might like be in your corner , can be

40:15

, so Just like relieving

40:17

.

40:19

Yeah , for sure .

40:21

Yeah , this

40:23

thought just came in my head and that's

40:25

okay . I'm sorry if it's like a Question

40:29

, that's like weird , but the pet pro

40:31

classic take all of our virginities , like

40:34

.

40:37

My kind of I .

40:39

I .

40:41

Did a world's room , so that was

40:43

my first contest .

40:45

Yeah , yeah but like in person

40:47

, like . Is it because it's like pet pro classic

40:50

or why like

40:52

well ?

40:53

it's not that well for Jacob and I . It's

40:55

not that far from us , Okay so that's , that's

40:57

the other reason you and Iowa

40:59

. That's different .

41:05

Well , it was because it was Pam . She told

41:07

me to come and did not prep me

41:09

for the real life . That

41:12

was embarrassing , but yeah , okay

41:15

, sorry that mine that thought just like slipped

41:17

into my mind and I was like , is this the show everyone

41:19

goes to for their first ? Is this something we should

41:21

tell people ? Because I really

41:23

feel like a lot of people show up now like it's a

41:25

, it's a heavy-hitting show right

41:27

now too .

41:28

Like I was gonna ask Jacob , what shows

41:30

do you have planned for the rest of the year ?

41:34

Um , I believe I'm doing all of them except

41:36

for New England . Yeah

41:38

, yeah , I'm like I'm

41:41

blessed you .

41:42

Yeah , I'm tired for you .

41:45

Well it's , the points are

41:47

so close right now that I

41:50

don't know if you're going to do it . You got to do it .

41:53

Yeah .

41:54

So but New England it's like New England's

41:56

like three days away from Dallas or something

41:58

of doing that . That's

42:00

crazy . Cause like but in the sun

42:03

is right after Dallas . They're trying to kill us

42:05

with a schedule .

42:07

Yeah , what do you think they could do differently

42:09

for the schedule for all of these

42:11

contests ? I've heard

42:13

so many opinions on how

42:15

it should be Cause

42:19

that is crazy Three shows back to back

42:21

, to back .

42:22

You know what I wish ? I just

42:25

wish there was like more

42:27

shows that were more in like the central

42:29

United States cause it feels like they're on

42:31

either coast and for those

42:33

of us that live like in

42:36

Texas or Oklahoma , for example , like we

42:39

have a trip to like every single show

42:41

, like on the coast . So it would

42:43

be nice if there were more and just like the central

42:45

States , I think that would help a lot yeah

42:48

.

42:49

Um , I don't know necessarily what the solution

42:52

to the scheduling conflict is . Uh

42:55

, it

42:57

just doesn't make sense Cause , like Barkley , they're

43:00

the same company and they're having like two shows within

43:02

like a week of each other

43:04

. Fun in the sun in . New England . Um

43:07

, and I just think that would be a lot for one company

43:09

to do , but I mean that's it's not my company

43:11

, so obviously I can't

43:14

say give my input and .

43:16

I've never put on a show , so but isn't

43:18

the sanctioned shows done by Grim team

43:20

, so like they get

43:22

to choose what shows are sanctioned

43:24

. Yeah , yeah

43:27

Is this not a good

43:29

topic to talk about on podcast . I'm just like

43:32

just generally curious , like that's

43:34

this . When you said three shows back to back to back

43:36

, I'm like aren't they in charge of what shows are

43:38

sanctioned ? Like no , they are , oh

43:42

man , um , but yeah

43:45

, the shows are back to back to back . So

43:47

like shouldn't there be some sort of like people

43:49

have families and dogs that aren't contest

43:52

dogs , and like they have a whole life outside

43:54

of contest grooming , which is fine , but

43:56

like our , so

43:58

like when I first went into this industry

44:00

, my husband had motocross for a while

44:02

. Okay , so once you get

44:04

sponsored , my brain was , like

44:06

you know , like a sponsored

44:09

motocross racer , racer

44:11

your bike , your racing , your hotel

44:13

, your gas , you even get a paycheck just to

44:15

get a trophy . Like that's

44:17

where my brain went before I figured

44:20

out contest life . Like yes , you

44:22

guys get some , some brand deals

44:24

, some shampoo , you

44:26

know , maybe an entry fee covered , maybe

44:29

you get to keep your prize money , that's

44:31

nice , um , but like there , you know , and

44:33

sometimes your whole trip maybe

44:35

is paid for . That's not the case a lot of the time

44:37

, um , but just to like

44:39

having those shows

44:41

back to back to back , like that's just . That's

44:44

just like , like

44:47

okay , so someone that's going to go to every single

44:49

show , right , like

44:52

what's their home life ? Are they ? Just it's really

44:54

hard to choose what's important , like

44:56

what's what's success to

44:58

these people is to go and

45:00

do all these things and then have like a the

45:02

best home life . Like , are you picking different

45:04

things ? Cause that's how I feel and I only go

45:07

to like two to three shows and my husband's

45:09

like , holy shit , like slow

45:11

down . Syria of children . Like

45:13

you can't just be flying all over . I

45:16

have companies , you have companies . We

45:18

can't just like abandon things . Let's , let's

45:20

, let's , figure out what success

45:22

means to Sierra Albert , missy Like and

45:24

you know we have those conversations at least every time

45:26

I go so , like how , how

45:29

can one sanctioned whoever

45:31

gets to choose their the board of group

45:33

team ? Like that's a lot Like

45:35

, shouldn't that come down to something ? Or , if it

45:37

is a lot like , hopefully

45:40

there's a big , big prize in the end , other than

45:42

a group team jacket . Like that's just how I feel

45:44

. Maybe this is too , too

45:46

, um , opinionated

45:49

, I don't know , but that's just , that's a

45:51

lot to ask .

45:53

They do have like a thing that they only count

45:55

your top nine shows , like

45:58

for girl team or for

46:00

the travel team , one of the two . So

46:02

like if you're really gunning for it , you know

46:04

you only have to have like nine , your nine

46:06

best shows or what's going to count . So if you did

46:09

I think there's like 13 or 14

46:11

, your top nine

46:13

are going to count , which law of average

46:16

you're probably not going to place at every show .

46:18

Yeah , but if you're only

46:20

doing .

46:21

if you're only doing like eight shows , then you really

46:23

got to make those eight count . But

46:28

so I guess that really just depends on like where you're

46:30

at and where you're sitting and

46:32

really what your end goal is . I mean , I've

46:36

always kind of said if it was really easy

46:38

, everyone would do it . So

46:41

yeah . But it

46:43

is . It is definitely brutal , but

46:46

I don't know if you're , if you ever pay attention

46:49

to like . I watch professional

46:51

rodeo too . I'm

46:53

like a big horse person and

46:56

I kind of feel like the professional rodeo athletes

46:58

because they're always out there chasing money

47:01

at rodeos and stuff to qualify for

47:03

the end of the year , kind of things .

47:06

So yeah .

47:07

I guess it just takes depends

47:10

on what , how devoted you really want to be , Because

47:12

it definitely does take a toll on

47:14

like family

47:16

and your dogs at home and

47:19

businesses . Like owning a business and doing

47:21

competitions is

47:23

really hard . I

47:25

almost think it would be easier to be an employee

47:27

, yeah .

47:29

Gavin switched from that , like

47:31

he did own a business and then he is

47:33

now an employee because it is hard

47:35

yeah .

47:39

I've really contemplated that , like more than

47:41

one time .

47:42

I'm really not going to lie . Tell

47:45

me more about that , though . Tell me more about owning

47:47

a business and competing . What's your struggles

47:49

?

47:52

Like um , it's , I'm

47:54

, I am a really hands

47:56

on boss . I

47:59

really try to um and

48:01

I try and I'm really about

48:03

in my salon . I'm really about like high quality

48:06

, but we also

48:08

are like really fast paced , because I'm just

48:10

a fast paced person and that's how I've always

48:12

worked and it's just it's

48:15

overwhelming just trying to do all the things at once

48:17

. I I had to get really good at delegating

48:19

and like I hired a receptionist

48:22

and like had to make myself

48:24

relinquish duties to her . Like no

48:27

, that is Casey's job , now Stop

48:30

touching it . Like you were not doing

48:33

that anymore . But

48:36

, um , I think that's been the biggest

48:38

struggle was just like making yourself delegate

48:40

and ask for help . That's

48:43

been my biggest struggle .

48:45

Yeah , I feel like a lot of people will

48:47

feel that , almost like when you said that

48:49

I'm like yep , I feel that right now too . So

48:54

, um , where can everyone

48:56

find you on social media ? Um

48:59

, all the things you share

49:01

and the places you go ?

49:04

Um , so you can add me on Facebook . I'm Jacob

49:06

Robinson . Uh

49:08

, then on Instagram I am underscore

49:11

, or okay

49:13

, see underscore groomer .

49:20

So all right , and then you're going to be at

49:22

Hershey's . So if anyone sees Jacob , go say

49:24

hi .

49:24

Yeah , yeah , I'd love to meet anyone

49:26

. I'm always down to make new friends

49:29

, so no problem , I had a great time .

49:32

Is your partner going to

49:35

Hershey with you ?

49:37

No , he can't make it to that one , but he

49:39

prioritizes going to Florida , so

49:41

I know , he's dating his trips

49:43

for the Florida shows Okay

49:46

.

49:46

That's smart planning .

49:48

That's smart .

49:48

That's very smart yeah .

49:51

Well , thank you so much for hopping

49:53

on . This was fun . I really

49:56

liked hearing your story and really what you

49:58

came back with after your accident . Most people would

50:00

have said , like they might you know , like you

50:02

, you came back with a vengeance

50:04

, almost , and you know , and I'm

50:07

excited to see where you're going to go in the future , because

50:09

I just know it's going to be great things .

50:10

So oh , thanks , thanks

50:13

guys .

50:15

Thank you so much , bye

50:19

, bye .

50:20

Bye .

50:20

Bye , thank you .