Dog owners will soon have a new place in Red Deer to train their pets.
The Red Deer and District Kennel Club (RDDKC) held an open house for its brand new training facility Wednesday so dog owners and trainers could get a look at the building, which officially opens Friday.
This building, located at 4 7045 Edgar Industrial Link, is going to be great for the community, said Karen LeJeune, RDDKC president.
“We’re super excited about this,” LeJeune said. “We have so many trainers who have not had a facility for a long time to work their dogs or to run their classes in the city so everybody is really excited.”
The building has a 60-by-30-foot matted training floor, which is new for the city. Since there wasn’t a space like that in Red Deer before, trainers had held classes that needed more space in Sylvan Lake, Lacombe or elsewhere.
“There’s going to be a whole pile of different classes that people are going to have the space to do finally, which is exciting,” LeJeuen said.
The building, which used to be an auto detailing shop, was leased by the club about a month ago. Since then, club members have cleaned, painted and prepared the building for dog training.
“It was pretty grungy in here, but it’s really come a long way. It looks a whole lot different than when we took it over,” said LeJeune.
LeJeune said she was thrilled with the response she got from people at Wednesday’s open house.
“They think the facility is great,” she said. “There’s lots of space – it’s nice, bright and open. It’s accessible and the parking is great, so the reactions have been wonderful.”
Ivan Busenius, promotions and advertising with RDDKC, said the facility will be able to accommodate every available type of dog training.
“If someone wants to hold a seminar or wants to do training – any training to do with dogs – this facility is available for them,” he said.
Trainers can rent the building by the hour or day to hold training seminars or even shows for dogs. There are a number of trainers who have already booked time in January, Busenius said.
Money raised from trainers’ booking fees will go toward keeping the building up and running, Busenius added.
“We hope enough people use it so it can pay for itself. We believe it will be a good facility for everybody,” he said.
For more information and to see the schedule of training seminars being held at the new facility, visit www.rddkc.com.