Meet the Founders

The founders would like to thank you for coming to meet us.

The Founders

Jackie Larocque

Owner: The Garage Grooming Shop, Sylvan Lake, Alberta.                                             Author of "Wet & Wild Puppy Grooming, A Training Manual" and "Hot Oil Treatments for Dogs".                              

Jackie came into pet grooming as a career after building an impressive resume encapsulating many facets of the pet care industry. A veterinary assistant for 10 years, a certified dog trainer and behaviourist Jackie has been grooming dogs for 18 years and specialized in cat grooming for 7yrs. She attained her Masters Certification in cat grooming through the ‘Professional Cat Groomers Association of America’ in 2012 and subsequently qualified as a Certifier for that same organization.

 Coming from an education based family and the owner of 3 successful businesses over that time Jackie has a solid understanding of the pet care industry and the skills necessary to develop and implement educational programs. To date she has written and published two grooming related books, ‘Hot Oil Treatments for Dogs’ & ‘Wet and Wild, A Complete Training Manual for Groomers’ and is currently working on several other grooming related projects.

 Finding no professional training available for cat grooming in Canada Jackie was forced to travel to the US to obtain her credentials. She determined then and there that she would work to provide that education here and the seed for ICATS was planted. Over the next 3 years she worked on a program which would result in a partnership with Alberta School of Dog Grooming and the birth of the first Canadian organization, International Cat Accredited Training School (ICATS),  dedicated to providing Canadian Certification of and educational opportunities for cat grooming.

 Given her unique skill set including educational background, industry knowledge from both the grooming and veterinary aspects, Jackie is now pursuing her personal passion to make the very best educational opportunities available to Canadian groomers in Canada.