The *idea* for PrairieWyn Dog Obedience Training was born in 1988. After finishing my UD on my first Golden, Rhea, I felt that there had to be a better way to teach classes, and I set up my first session outside. It was daunting at first, a relatively unknown instructor in the Omaha area, with a lot of ideas on how to make things better. But, I found that I had a flair for teaching, and a love for dogs, and things took off from there!
I started with Basic Beginners and added Advanced classes as it became clear that several students wanted to continue, and compete with their dogs. After several years of teaching outside, the decision was made to try and find a building and hold classes year round. After searching for a few months, we settled on
Oakleaf Stables and Kennels. In the following years we grew from a relatively obscure school to one of the major training schools in the area.
In 2002, we moved to Pacific Junction, Iowa.
I have a strong belief in working with the
average handler and the average dog, and molding them into extraordinary
handlers and dogs. You CAN train to a CD, or OTCH on limited time and a
budget. It's the quality in the training, NOT the quantity! Don't be
tricked into the 'one size fit's all training'!
To this date we have had the pleasure of assisting several students to their CD's, CDX's, UD's, UDX's and our crowning achievement of
producing PrairieWyn's first OTCH's. We are also proud of the number of *non* typical obedience breeds that PrairieWyn
has turned out and of the number of dogs holding titles and national rankings.
The school has grown to around 60 students per session, and I now travel out of
state to give private lessons on a regular basis. I have given Obedience Seminar's dedicated to Miss Fire. She was the inspiration and my mainstay. I have also been an instructor and lecturer for Gerianne Darnell's Small Dog Camp for 2 years.
As of 2004 we are now running all classes out of our Glenwood facility.
Look for photos of our
building soon!!!
Julie Simmons