Jessica Klinkenberg
Northern News Services
Published Friday, December 14, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - The NWT SPCA and Ruff Diamonds Dog Agility are looking for a space in the evenings for dog obedience classes.

The benefits of obedience training dogs are vast, said Janet Pacey, president of the NWT SPCA board of directors.

Janet Pacey, president of the NWT SPCA, gets her dog Winnie to do a trick in exchange for a treat in her home. The NWT SPCA and the Ruff Diamond Dog Agility group are trying to find a space for a dog training session in the winter. - Jessica Klinkenberg/NNSL photo

Pacey said that through classes, people can learn how to teach their dog new commands.

"By having your dog and you go through obedience training, you'll understand better how each other learns," said Pacey. "Every dog needs to go through it, it's basic manners for any dog," she said. "You want a good canine citizen as your companion."

It also ensures safety in many situations, Pacey said.

A dog capable of obeying a command to sit, stay or return to the owner can help the dog in avoiding something dangerous.

"You want to be able to call him back before anything bad happens," she said.

Umesh Sutendra, a member of the Ruff Diamonds Dog Agility group, said the group was approached by the NWT SPCA about finding a dog trainer.

"They've basically asked us if we could bring a trainer, and we said only if there is a facility," he said. "There isn't and I don't think there is any chance of us getting one."

Sutendra said the challenge is finding a facility with heating for the dogs' paws, and ground that the dogs wouldn't mark up.

Size is another factor, he said. The dogs and handlers would need room in order to work on commands such as "'stay," which involve the owner giving the command and walking approximately 10 feet away.

He doesn't know of anywhere like that in Yellowknife.

Typically Ruff Diamonds will bring a trainer up for several weeks in late spring for obedience training, Sutendra said.

In the spring and summer they can easily hold training sessions outside, but Sutendra said he doesn't think they will be able to bring up an obedience trainer in the winter.

"It's very difficult, space is short in the winter, and it's good to train the dogs to behave properly and so forth, but it's kind of sad that we don't have the facility here right now."