Settling down into her new location, local dog trainer Susan Bernhart is proud to have the largest dog agility center for miles.
Bernhart, who’s trained dogs for over 15 years, recently moved her business Paws 4 Fun into an expanded facility in Owatonna. She began offering classes there earlier this month. The nearly 10,000-square foot facility boasts a wide range of equipment for dog owners looking to train their four-legged friends in agility, and also offers training on topics including obedience and behavior modification. The new facility is around three times the size of her previous location, and has room to grow if she decides to lease more space.
Dog agility, in which humans guide their dogs through obstacles including tunnels and seesaws, has grown into an international competitive sport in recent decades. Aside from winning accolades and keeping her active, Bernhart has found the sport helps her forge a stronger bond between people and their dogs.
“Dogs need mental stimulation. This provides that, and it also gives them physical exercise,” said Bernhart.
According to Bernhart, she technically isn’t training the dogs themselves. Rather, she’s teaching her clients to train their own dogs. She sees a key distinction here, noting the dogs must have trust not only for her, but for her clients. She leads a team of several trainers at Paws 4 Fun.
She believes that every dog, no matter the size or breed, can learn agility with the right training.
Bernhart first found a passion for dog agility while training her own dog, a toy poodle named Ninja. After putting him through obedience training, she wanted a fun, active way to keep teaching him. Ninja didn’t take to the sport immediately, but he eventually earned 11th place nationwide in the American Kennel Club Masters agility program in 2011.
“This was a fantastic dog after all, even though he had a very slow start,” she said.
For Bernhart, the key to training is diligence and patience on the trainer’s part. She stressed the importance of positive reinforcement, which she finds is not only kinder to the dog but more effective.
She currently has three dogs — Tango, Yo-yo and Miko.
When she started working with Ninja, Bernhart travelled to dog agility clubs around Minnesota, often driving over an hour one-way for large group classes that gave her very little time to run the course with Ninja. She began buying her own equipment piece by piece, and eventually opened her own facility in a small space above Selective Looks on Cedar Avenue. After several years, she moved to another location on the west side of town, staying there until the building was recently sold.
Now, she leases a space on State Avenue, fittingly next to Lake Chase Dog Park and the site of the future Steele County Animal Shelter.
Bernhart’s client Martha Diedrich, of Waseca, counts herself as one of the dog lovers who’s thrilled to have such a large facility so close to home, where her dogs can get a real workout.
She’s taken advantage of both Bernhart’s group classes and private sessions, visiting multiple times a week to train her own dogs and others. Diedrich helps other dog owners start training their pets, taking dogs that haven’t learned to sit on command yet and teaching them to be well-mannered and obedient.
Diedrich finds that dogs grow bored with obedience training alone in time, and that agility motivates them to keep training for the sheer enjoyment of it. She’s been active in the sport since the ‘90s, when it was far less popular, and regards it as a good way for dogs and humans alike to stay active. Plus, it helps dogs work out their excess energy — “A tired dog is a good dog,” as she says.
“Once you have a dog that’s very bonded and understands human communication better, they’re much more satisfied at home, they are more well-behaved, they just become better dogs,” said Diedrich.
For whatever reason, Bernhardt finds her business is less well-known right in her backyard. She said her services have drawn people from Mankato, Rochester and Albert Lea for years, but she’s only recently found a contingent of clients from Owatonna.
MORE INFORMATION
Paws 4 Fun’s new facility is located at 1605 State Avenue NW, Owatonna, next to the building site of the future Steele County Animal Shelter.
To see the full list of classes offered, visit paws4fun-owatonna.com
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