Meet the Judges : Groomer Has It : Animal Planet

Joey Villani

Joey Villani, a leading US expert in grooming, began his remarkable career apprenticing for industry visionary John Nash. Having trained thousands of groomers as a top instructor for Mr. Nash's schools, in 1998, Joey became president, director and owner of the Nash Academy of Animal Arts in New Jersey. In addition to his 33 years of grooming experience and his impressive teaching career, Joey is an IJA (International Judges Association) registered judge and has been nominated four times for the Cardinal Crystal Achievement Award for excellence in dog grooming show judging.

He is deeply involved with Intergroom International, the largest international grooming conference, and has been instrumental in the organization's branching out into Belgium, Italy and France.

Joey is also a representative for Sexy Beast Canine Cosmetics, the first and only canine cosmetic company. In addition, he is a co-developer of the Canine and Groomer Reference, an online dog and grooming instructional guide.

As a judge on Animal Planet's Groomer Has It, Joey brings tremendous knowledge and insight into the technical aspects of grooming and likes to keep groomers on their toes with his probing questions. He looks for a number of key things when he's judging including: the amount of coat hair, the degree of difficulty, preparation of the dog, balance and overall transformation. He also wants to make sure a groomer knows how to clipper, scissor, hand-strip and that they know their equipment, products and the process of grooming for both long and short hair dogs. Joey tells it like it is, and when impressed, he offers a giant grin and his trademark, "That's it, baby!"

When not working, Joey spends time with his wife, Elaine; and his three cairn terriers, Myles, Buster and Simon; and his 29-year-old umbrella cockatoo named Gurney.

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groomer has it

Meet the Judges

Joey Villani

Judge's Corner

Meet the Judges

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