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Nash Welcomes Sasha Riess
Born in 1974 in Serbia, Alexander Sasha Riess has pursued his dream to become a master groomer, master show dog handler, and teacher of the art of dog grooming and styling since 1990, and has achieved all that he set out to do and much more. He attended the Grooming Academy in Budapest, Hungary, and within two years after graduation, became one of the youngest instructors at that prestigious school, so impressed with his talents was the school. He continued to pursue his education and hone his abilities in master classes throughout Europe. and n 1994 added show dog handling to his resume, eventually showing over 30 breeds world wide, resulting in over 530 certified champions. He opened the first dog grooming salon in Serbia in 1997, the Alexander Riess Pet Grooming and Styling Studio, and soon expanded that into the Alexander Riess Show Dog Care Company, specializing in the grooming, boarding and handling of show dogs. He has handled showdogs in the United States, Japan, Argentina, Brazil, Israel and Finland. In 2003, Sasha was invited to compete in the World Grooming Invitational Tournament of Champions in New Jersey, and took the Bronze Medal there. He organized seminars and presentations on grooming and show dog handling throughout Europe, including Cyprus, Holland and Hungary, and also in Israel and Russia. In 2003, he organized, with the Open University of Novi Sad, the first large school for dog grooming and handling in Serbia, and in 2004, opened the Alexander Riess Grooming and Handling Academy. He began to judge tournaments in Russia in 2005, the same year that he began the magazine "Show Dog Review." In 2007, Sasha was named Groomer of the Year in Hungary. He has also been instrumental in standardizing the grooming of two breeds of dog, the Lagotto Romagnolo and the Barbett. Never one to rest on his laurels, preferring instead to seek out new challenges, Sasha has now joined forces with the Nash Academy, bringing his unique expertise to Kentucky, where he will be teaching both online classes and hands-on classes in grooming.