There's a New Qual in Town
Industry Certification for experienced dog groomers, and you don't have to start at the beginning
If you have been grooming for years without a formal qualification, you are not unusual (at least in that regard!) Plenty of amazing groomers learned in a salon, a mobile situation or at home, and picked it up on the job. Some learned at their mum's feet. Some combined the 'university' of YouTube with the cold-immersion technique of just opening a business and working it out.
Whichever way you got here, it probably was not laid out neatly in front of you. You worked out what you needed, when you needed it, and filled the gaps as you went. So - this is the opposite of that. Everything in order, nothing missing, and someone marking your progress as you go. After years of piecing it together yourself, you get to just settle in and enjoy the learning.
That is what Industry Certification is for. Not to teach you to groom, but to prove you can, marked on a rubric that does not care how long you have been going, only whether the work stands up.
And if the foundations are already second nature, you can skip them!
See if you can skip to Block 4 →
Who is this for?
Groomers with real experience and no paper to match it. If you can already groom, but you have got nothing official to point to, this is built for you.
Who says it counts?
Well, that’s a fair question to ask of any certification. This one was built by the grooming industry, not bolted onto a general training package by people who have never rolled a blown coat. Blocks 4 and 5 are assessed by senior groomers and educators who do the work and know what they are looking at, marked on a rubric with a real standard to meet, not a certificate for turning up.
It is not a government qualification, and we do not pretend it is. It is an industry one, and in this trade that is the one that means something, because the people setting the bar are the people whose work you would actually want to match.
A few questions to sit with first:
If you have been grooming a while, you have probably had a few of these cross your mind…
Would you back yourself more if you knew the work stood up to a proper look?
Have you gone about as far as the people around you can take you?
Would it change anything if a client knew you were certified, not just experienced?
Are there corners of the job you picked up on the fly and never had anyone confirm you were doing right?
Would it help to be certified before the day it stops being optional?
If a few of those ring true, that is what this is for.
Why bother, when you are already good?
Fair question! Being good at your job and having something that proves it are two different things. You can groom. The people who know you know it. But that does not help when a stranger, a new client or an employer asks what you can do. There is nothing to show them. A certificate is something you can show them. Certification is assessed, measured against breed standard, and marked by people who know what they are looking at. It turns "I'm good" into proof.
From pet stylist to senior dog groomer
When you finish Block 3, you are a Pet Stylist. Block 5 takes you to Senior Dog Groomer. Block 4 is the runway between them, a foot in both courts.
We all know styling is most of the job these days. The traditional breeds are thin on the ground, and a beautifully styled pet is nothing to sniff at. But reading a breed standard and applying it to a real dog is a different skill again, and it is exactly the gap this sets out to fill.
You don't start from scratch
The whole pathway runs across five blocks. Blocks 1 to 3 are the start, foundation training delivered (with hefty practical) at grooming schools around Australia, including Companion Animal Grooming Institute of Australia, Australasian Dog Grooming Academy, Tasmanian Grooming Academy, and Dog Diversity, with more schools coming.
Blocks 4 and 5 are the advanced tail end, the technical and senior work most groomers never get formal training in. That is the part this is about.
And if the foundations are already second nature, you can skip them. The Direct Entry Assessment lets you prove what you already know and go straight to Block 4. It is free to sit, and it is the door in. Pass it, and your enrolment link for Blocks 4 and 5 comes straight to you.
What is in Blocks 4 and 5?
The advanced end of grooming. Breed standard grooms, hand stripping, colour, Asian Fusion, show trims, and the business know-how that comes with years but not always with a certificate. It also comes with a three year membership to igroomhub, so you are in for the community and the resources through the pathway and well beyond it.
Block 4 | Professional Dog Groomer
Block 4 sharpens the technical side and covers the rest of the job too. The familiar salon situations and how to handle them, the tricky grooms, advanced scissoring, safe de-matting, hand stripping, colour, and breed standard grooms on the breeds coming through your door every week.
Breeds covered: oodles, toy and standard poodle, bichon, west highland white terrier, scottish terrier, miniature schnauzer, cocker spaniel, pomeranian, japanese spitz, maltese, shih tzu.
Plus the quieter work that makes a good groomer: reading anatomy and body language, working with anxious, senior, disabled and aggressive dogs, talking to owners, keeping your space low-stress, and charging what you are worth.
Block 5 | Senior Dog Groomer
The senior end. Leading a team, canine psychology and learning theory, advanced scissoring and thinning, creative colour and airbrush work, advanced Asian Fusion, and expert hand stripping. Taught by some of the best groomers in the country.
Breeds covered: standard schnauzer, lakeland terrier, australian terrier, wire fox terrier, american cocker spaniel, kerry blue terrier, afghan hound, bedlington terrier, plus poodle german and continental trims. By the end you are across the breed standards, the advanced terminology, and the styling that marks you as one of the seniors in the trade.
How the courses are delivered and assessed
The theory drips out over twelve months for each block, so you can fit study around a full diary. Once the theory is done, you have got six months to book and sit your practical assessments, then the same again for the next block.
The pracs are done live over Zoom. You groom in your own salon, on your own dogs, with an assessor watching and marking against the rubric. No travel, no getting anywhere, just you, your setup and a camera. Each one is marked against a detailed rubric. You need to hit the standard on every criterion, not just scrape an average. You are judged on prep, breed standard, handling and safety.
You are not doing this alone
Scattered through both blocks are Feedback Pitstops. At each one you upload your work and someone from the igroomhub team takes a proper look, tells you what is working, what is not, and what to tune before you move on. It means nothing at assessment comes as a surprise. By the time you are ready for a prac assessment, you have already had feedback on the work leading up to it.
This isn't your masters, but it gets you ready for one
Industry Certification makes you a certified Professional, then a Senior groomer, assessed against breed standard by people who know what they are looking at. It is not an FCI Master Groomer title. That is earned in competition, in front of judges.
But Block 5 was built with that path in mind. Four of your five final practical assessments line up with the FCI competition categories: hand stripping, spaniels and setters, poodles, and scissored purebreds. Same categories you would face in the ring, same breed standards, judged on the same things. If the FCI titles are where you are headed, this is the groundwork.
The fifth assessment is ours, and it is the one we care about most. A special care dog. The old dog who cannot stand for long, the anxious one who needs you to slow right down, the dog carrying an injury or a history that means the textbook groom goes out the window. No competition score sheet tests for this. But it is the work that fills most of our days, and how you handle a dog who is finding it hard tells us more about the groomer you are than any breed standard ever will.
If competition is not your thing, that is fine. The certification stands on its own.
Ready to make it official?
If you have got the years behind you and you would like the credential to match, it starts with Direct Entry. It is free to sit, and it is how you show us what you already know. When you pass it, and we will send you a private enrolment link for Blocks 4 and 5. Your spot is held from there, and you can start when you are ready.
The blog is just the beginning
igroomhub is an industry membership built for the modern dog groomer - tutorials, masterclasses, business resources, industry discussion and a whole lot more.
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