Doggy Styling

‘Picasso used a blank piece of paper’, contends one eccentric groomer. ‘I use a white dog.’ This is fairly typical of the levels of absurd self-aggrandisement and pointless virtuosity displayed by the ‘artists’ at the Hershey Groom Expo, an extreme canine primping competition in rural Pennsylvania. Who knew that a poodle could be made to look like a lion, a geisha, Batman or the whole of the Simpson family?

Parts of this documentary feel like a Buzzfeed list made televisual, possibly one entitled: ‘26 Dogs You Really Want To Punch In The Face Even Though You Know It’s Not Really Their Fault.’ But, as we follow Brit competition virgin Su Eld-Weaver through her debut expo, it’s not without a certain guilty point-and-stare fascination. And that’s pretty much how C4 documentaries roll these days.