WAGGLES Academy for Dogs aims to make training fun on both ends of the leash.
The business, located just outside of Red Deer city limits, serves as a training facility for the family dog. Certified and professional trainers teach general household manners, dog sports and play etiquette, owner Shar Mulligan explained in an email to the Advocate.
"During a session with us, the dog and handler will work either in our indoor training space or outdoors in one of our secure training fields," stated Mulligan.
"Day training dogs will spend up to eight hours with us working on manners, tricks and playing with others. These fur clients learn to run alongside other doggy playmates as well as rest, eat and sleep. The trainers help polish skills within a group setting or private sessions. We can work with just the dog, or with the dog and owner."
Mulligan and her husband Trevor livd in Central Alberta since the mid-1960s. They left the province briefly in the 1980s, but returned to the region before the end of the decade.
Mulligan was 14 years old when she trained another person's dog for the first time. She has always been known as "that gal who is good with dogs, and their owners."
The demand and requests for dog training resulted in several part-time jobs. Eventually, she and her husband decided it was time to go full-time with their own facility.
"Trevor is the monarch and muscle behind the construction, layout, and maintenance at WAGGLES. He loves spending a few hours every morning with the dog-clients as they arrive for their training day. He is lovingly known as Uncle Trev to the dogs and their owners," said Mulligan.
As the demand for training and dog walking grew exponentially in the early 2000s, it was clear that WAGGLES needed a large facility with grounds to call home, Mulligan explained.
"Rather than renting community halls, school drama rooms, church basements, etc. In 2011, WAGGLES moved to a five-acre parcel on the fringe of Red Deer City limits. A modest training centre was built and the acreage was designed to accommodate dog training events."
WAGGLES Academy was officially incorporated in 2014.
For more information on WAGGLES Academy for Dogs, visit www.waggles.ca.
