The continued difficulties caused by the Covid-19 Pandemic did not allow for Canadian competitiors to compete in any shows in 2021. There is no Top Ten for 2021 as a result.
The Covid-19 Pandemic resulted in the postponement or cancellation of most of the 2020 competitions. The Board of Directors of Groom Team Canada recognizes that it is impossible to acknowledge a fair and true Top Ten competitor ranking for 2020. We congratulate the groomers who competed and garnered points in the two shows of 2020, but there will be no Top Ten Awards for 2020.
Top 10 Canadian Groomers for the 2023 Term
Nadia Bongelli - 1st Place (123 Points)
Nadia Bongelli is the head groomer at Doggieland North Toronto, with 10 years of professional grooming experience under her belt. Nadia began competing off and on between the end of 2012 and 2014, until she began to seriously compete in 2015. Since then she has been nominated for Barkleigh Honors “Up and Coming Groomer of the Year” in 2015 and 2016, which she won in 2016. She was Intergroom’s “Rising Star of the Year” in 2016 and soon after began competing in Canada and the USA at the open level. Since then she is the 2017 and 2018 “Canadian Groomer of the Year” by popular vote as well as Intergrooms “International Groomer of the Year” for 2017 and 2018. In 2019, Nadia won Best International Groomer at Superzoo in Las Vegas, and her first US Best In Show at the New England Grooming Show in 2019. Nadia found her passion for educating and speaking in 2017 and has since attended many events as a speaker and instructor and in hands on workshops in Canada and in the United States. Nadia will be travelling with Groom Team Canada to Belgium in 2024 and is excited to represent her country with her team members.
Jovi Wagner - 2nd Place (73 Points)
Jovi, a professional groomer since 1999, has competitively honed her skills since 2015. Internationally renowned and award-winning, she specializes in handstripping and grooming sporting dogs. As a second-generation groomer, she grew up handling dogs at confirmation shows and breeds Irish Wolfhounds and Welsh Terriers under the registered kennel name TIROC.
With a keen understanding of grooming requirements and breed-specific structures, Jovi, through attending conformation shows and connecting with breeders, has become a respected figure in her field. Since 2001, she has owned one of Saskatchewan, Canada's top salons and has held a prominent position as one of Canada's highest-ranking groomers since 2016.
In 2022, Jovi captained Groom Team Canada, representing the Wirecoat class at the World Team competition in Kortrijk, Belgium. Her commitment to grooming education is evident through her advocacy for continuous learning. She thoroughly enjoys sharing her expertise by conducting seminars and private lessons, embodying the belief that learning in the grooming industry is a lifelong journey.
She is looking forward to representing Canada again in Waregem, Belgium this September as the Captain and the Sporting class team member.
Jessica Daltrey - 3rd Place (64 Points)
Jessica graduated from grooming school in 2015 and quickly set goals to attend workshops, seminars and compete in contests. The love for contest grooms, hand stripping and showing dogs set it and she had been hooked ever since. In 2017 she started her contest grooming career and in 2019 she opened a salon in her home town. Within those years she became a certified master groomer through CPPS and also began to dive deep into the terrier world, specializing in hand stripping. Just after Covid Jessica started competing in Open Division and dabbled into the international grooming contests, winning international groomers awards, best all around groomer and multiple class placements. Her goal was to make Groom Team Canada one day. It is her passion to continue her education every way she can and pass that knowledge onto every groomer who is willing to learn.
Jackie Boulton - 4th Place (25 Points)
Jackie has been a pet stylist since 1986 where she started as a bather/brusher at a grooming salon in Calgary. Currently she is the co- owner of the very successful Mucky Pups with her sister Deb which they opened in 1996. In 1992 Jackie attended her first grooming contest, Intergroom, in New Jersey, since that time she has accumulated over 60 gold, silver and bronze medals in various breed classes and has won the title of Best International Groomer an unprecedented 8 times. In 2007 at Groom Expo Jackie was named the Winners Circle Champion bringing home the grand prize jackpot of $32,500. Jackie has also received the honour of five Cardinal Crystal Achievement awards for International Groomer of the Year. In 2011 and 2013 she won the $10,000 Groomer Super Jackpot class at Superzoo in Las Vegas. Jackie has received numerous Best in Show and Best All Around stylist titles as well as several Best Scissored Dog awards. In February 2015 she won her third consecutive Best in Show at Groom and Kennel Expo in California, and currently holds the record of nine covers on Groomer to Groomer magazine. In the competitive seasons of 2015-2016 and 2017-2018, Jackie ranked #1 overall in Groom Team Canada points. Jackie will be representing Team Canada at the 2024 World Grooming Championship.
Alex Calenda - 5th Place (5 Points)
Grooming since 2012, Alex has always followed her passion for dogs and attained her CMG title in 2017. Starting off with pet grooming , she has since specialized in hand-stripping, all breed show grooming, and education. Owner of AC grooming studio in Ottawa, ON, CPPS junior certifier, and more recently dedicating her time to mentorship, Alex is eager to make education accessible for all in the professional grooming industry, and encourage groomers to learn and grow through out their careers.
Bryanna Fritz McKenzie - 6th Place (4Points)
Yufei Hu - 7th Place (4 Points)
Yufei Hu has been working as a professional groomer since 2012 in Zoom Zoom Groom, which is the Top Grooming Salon in Regina, Saskatchewan. She attended her first competition with 3 years grooming experience, the Wild Rose Grooming Expo, in Calgary. Since then she has been obtained multiple gold, silver, and bronze medals in the last 4 years actively competing in Canada and the USA. In 2017, Yufei has been nominated and awarded for “Canadian Up and Coming Groomers of the Year”. In the same year, she was invited to be the guest speaker of Global Groomers- The dynasty collection. Yufei had two Best In Show experiences from the Mastergroom Canada - in 2016 for Novice class and 2019 for Open level. Yufei is proud to be a member of Groom Team Canada. She enjoys competing and meeting her grooming friends around the world, sharing knowledge and supporting each other.
Priscilla Suddard - 8th Place (3 Points)
Melissa Abbott - 9th Place (3 Points)
Melissa has been grooming professionally for over 10 years. She opened her salon The Foxy Hound in Chilliwack, BC 6 years ago and started grooming competitively in 2019. In attempting to grow her business Melissa found that quality groomers were scarce and decided to begin training her own staff to groom. In this she has found a love for educating that has become a huge passion and the driving force for BC's grooming event West Coast Groom Fest, which she developed in 2022.
Melissa's other great love is competitive grooming. She learns something new every time she steps into the ring. Melissa has been awarded many 1st, 2nd and 3rd placements, one Best All Around Groomer title and one Best In Show. When she's not working or traveling to grooming events Melissa loves attending her local dog shows and spending time outdoors with her husband Mark and their three dogs.
Chantel Hunt - 10th Place (3 Points)
In 2011, after working in the field of Biotechnology for twelve years, Chantel fell in love with a toy poodle named Maggie and her passion for dog grooming was revealed. She took a course on dog grooming at the local college and opened deTails Dog Grooming later that year. With more knowledge came an interest to compete, so she started down that path in 2014.
In 2017 Chantel completed her Master Groomer with NDGAA and then CPPS here in Canada. She also made the top 10 for Groom Team Canada the same year. Her goal is to make the Groom Team Canada travel team.
Chantel teaches dog grooming at St Lawrence College in Kingston, Ontario as part of the Vet Assistant program and also own and groom at deTails Dog Grooming in Mallorytown, Ontario.
This year's top 10 groomers were awarded a Certificate of Achievement by Groom Team Canada, as well as a Groom Team Canada Paw Mat donated by Lynn Professionals.