Joey Villani, a leading U.S. 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. He completed his term as president and director of the organization in 2008. In addition to his 34 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 the creator of Dogs in Style, which is a line of pet cosmetics. In addition, he is a co-developer and director of advertising for Nash Canine and Groomers Reference, online dog and grooming instructional guides. Both are revolutionary, educational web sites geared toward grooming professionals and everyday pet owners.
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: 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; his three cairn terriers, Myles, Buster and Simon; and his 31-year-old umbrella cockatoo named Gurney.
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