Pamper Paws’ Meagan Lidbetter wins Melbourne Royal Grooming Comp blue ribbon

The owner of a Mackay pet grooming business won big at the Melbourne Royal Grooming Competition. Read how the dog who helped her win it was “such a hard breed to master”.

A Mackay business owner said she was “over the moon” to have won two ribbons at the Melbourne Royal Grooming Competition on October 2.

Pamper Paws’ Meagan Lidbetter took out the third place ribbon for Salon Freestyle Class on Doug the Bernedoodle and won first place in Poodle Class with the help of Mauve the Standard Poodle.

Beating out about 80 competitors, Ms Lidbetter said winning the blue ribbon in poodle grooming had been her goal for quite some time now.

“It’s such a hard breed to master, because they are so specific with the breed guidelines,” she said.

Mackay business-owner Meagan Lidbetter with the 1st place and 3rd place ribbons she won at the Melbourne Royal Grooming Competition. Photo: Contributed

“It was a goal I set myself to keep pushing and keep pushing.

“I had two-and-a-half hours (to) scissor the entire dog.

Mauve the standard poodle helped Mackay business owner Meagan Lidbetter take home the blue ribbon for 1st place. Photo: Contributed

“Dog grooming is something that’s always evolving, always changing.”

She said the “very, very fast paced” one-day competition had some of the biggest names in dog grooming as judges.

Mackay business-owner Meagan Lidbetter. Photo: Contributed

Starting out as a vet nurse before moving into dog grooming, Ms Lidbetter launched her business Pamper Paws in the small town of Blayney in NSW.

She and her family relocated to her husband’s hometown Mackay in January 2020, saying she “absolutely fell in love” with Queensland.

The Pamper Paws team outside their Sydney Street shopfront. Photo: Contributed

“It’s gorgeous.”

Ms Lidbetter goes to three to five competitions around Australia annually and is looking forward to the last dog grooming competition of the year in Brisbane.

Pamper Paws now has four staff working for Ms Lidbetter in a shopfront on Sydney Street in Mackay’s CBD.

The store was recently announced as a finalist in the inaugural 2022 Australian Women’s Small Business Champion Awards, to be announced in November.