My dogs don’t follow instructions. They’re smart guys who understand English pretty well, but they generally do what pleases them, not what pleases me. When I tell them to get off the bed, for example, they do this:
Meghann Weller-Redmer, owner of Sit Stay Dog Training, says there’s a simple reason for that: I praise them at the wrong time.
That’s probably true.
Meghann Weller-Redmer and one of her well-trained friends.
Sit Stay’s motto is “Because they don’t come trained,” and apparently they don’t absorb training from the hopes I harbor for them, either: they have to be taught.
Which is something Meghann Weller is really good at doing.
Meghann is a graduate of The National K-9 Learning Center, which was established in 1975 by Scott Mueller, who “is credited with revolutionizing support dog training when he trained a dog to aid a client who suffered from Muscular Dystrophy,” according to the Center’s website. For nearly 40 years, the Center has been considered “a leader within the field of training dogs for family and service.”
Meghann comes to her love of dogs through her mother and her grandmother, both of whom were breeders and trainers.
On May 2 and 3, Meghann will be at Great Country Farm’s Dog Days Festival with an obstacle course designed to challenge ordinary house dogs without frustrating them — or their owners.
“Our goal is to help owners become confident and comfortable in handling their dog,” Meghann says through her website.
So if you’d like to build the confidence it takes to make your dog jump through a hanging tire — or at least get off the bed — come out to the farm this weekend and introduce yourself to Meghann. Bring your dog.
