About the creator of White Dog Enterprises.... Melissa Verplank

Melissa Verplank began her career with pets in 1977 as a kennel assistant. In 1983, Melissa established Four Paws Mobile Grooming with one mobile grooming unit. Within four years that business had swelled to a fleet of six mobile units plus a salon-based operation that later became The Paragon School in 1992. Melissa is a Certified Master Stylist of the International Professional Groomers Association and the International Society of Canine Cosmetology, both voluntary testing organizations. By 1990, she ranked as one of the six top stylists in the United States and was a member of GroomTeam USA, representing the United States in world team competition in France.

After her success in the contest arena, Melissa went on to become a respected international grooming contest judge and a speaker at industry functions as well as the Coordinator for GroomTeam USA from 1997-1998. Based on Melissa's progressive attitude toward the pet styling industry, The Paragon School was chosen to be one of the only state-licensed schools in the country to act as a training center for PETsMART professional pet stylists from 2000-2003.

Currently Ms. Verplank is the President of The Paragon School of Pet Grooming while promoting and creating her new company, White Dog Enterprises.

About the artist for Notes, Lisa VanSweden

Lisa VanSweden, born in Grand Rapids, began her career as a self-taught watercolor artist while spending endless hours walking and fishing the National Forests and great lakes throughout Northern Michigan. Alternating architectural art and painting wildlife, Lisa became an established, printed wildlife artist and licensed Wildlife Rehabilitator for the State of Michigan. Her passion for animals turned to capturing the character of the canine species in graphite, colored pencil and technical drawings. Lisa VanSweden enrolled in The Paragon School of Pet Grooming in 1996, to combine her love for art and the desire to work more closely with pets. There she began sketching anatomy and technical pieces to further her understanding of the breed standards and trim patterns. Since graduating from The Paragon School, Lisa has been a professional pet stylist, instructor and the staff artist for curriculum development and lectures for Ms. Verplank and is currently working side by side with Melissa on illustrating various assignments from books to fine art.

About the artist for Whiskers - Volume 1, Nicole Alfaro

Nicole Alfaro has been drawing since she could pick up a pencil. She is a city girl, who loves walking downtown and visiting local coffee shops. Originally from Flint, Mich., Alfaro moved to Grand Rapids in 2003 to study illustration at Kendall College of Art and Design. She focuses on incorporating both creativity and detailed rendering in her art, often using the human figure as her main subject. She is thrilled to be working in her field while continuing her studies at Kendall.

About the mascot for White Dog Enterprises, Megan

Megan is the personal friend, guardian and Melissa's constant companion. She is an eight-year-old Italian livestock guardian dog called a Maremma Sheepdog. She began her career as a livestock guardian dog for Melissa's sister's flock of sheep. Megan discovered she did not care for sheep, disregarding her heritage, and began breaking out of the pastures, preferring to guard people and play with chickens. This was not popular with the exotic fowl living on the farm. In order to preserve peace in her sister's household and the farm, Melissa inherited the then 14-month-old Megan.

When Meg is not assisting with White Dog Enterprises, she leads the life of a farm dog and protector. Megan's domain is called Black Falcon Farms in Kent City, Michigan. She shares it with a cast of other four-legged companions including Emma, a Bernese Mountain Dog, Angel, a red Doberman, Anna, a flame point Himalayan cat, "Chaps" a black and white domestic short hair cat, Miss Kitty and Coral Ann, the two resident barn cats, and a barn full of Friesian horses. In public, Megan's love of people and her soft, gentle nature are evident. Megan has always been a wonderful independent thinker, exceptionally wise and thoughtful, making her the perfect mascot for an educational company in the world of continuing education in the field of pet grooming.

How 'Notes' Came to Be....

Melissa had always dreamed of creating a grooming guide of professional pet grooming techniques. As she pursued other areas of her career, time, funding, talent and a creative source never seemed to simultaneously present themselves to allow the creation of her dream.

Then one day she caught a glimpse of some classroom notes by one of the school's students. Lisa VanSweden was a student struggling to learn professional pet grooming, just like all the other students. Her method of learning was to draw what she wanted to create. The sketch Melissa saw that day was a three-dimensional drawing showing how to set the lines of a poodle top knot using the skull's anatomy as reference points. The rough drawing featured fur, skin and bone. It was amazing! Lisa went on to create many extra credit projects for her studies while a student. Her talent was unquestionable. She and Melissa developed a positive working relationship and a strong friendship. Lisa went on to become one of the trainers at the school and, when funding permitted, to become the exclusive illustrator for training material developed by Ms Verplank and the Paragon School.

Together, Lisa and Melissa hunted for excellent representations of each breed that are featured in Notes from the Grooming Table. One single profile drawing of a dog will take Lisa from eight to 15 hours to complete, if there are no changes. As Melissa is the final word for all the art in the book, some dogs have ended up back on the drawing table many times before satisfying Melissa's expert eye. The pair thought they would never be able to complete some breeds and trim styles!

'Notes from the Grooming Table' has been in development for more then two years and includes thousands and thousands of hours of work for both women. Together they have strived to showcase exceptional representation of all the breeds, based on the written breed standard for every breed. The realism Ms VanSweden has been able to capture with each drawing is nothing less than brilliant. This book has turned into a labor of love for both Melissa and Lisa. It is a true collaboration of individuals, of the skill and knowledge they both possess.