David Parker Around Town: Meet Clever Canines

Calgary Herald

2 days ago

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It's not often you hear of a Calgary company celebrating 140 years in business — but this one is calculated in dog years.
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Clever Canines is celebrating a rather remarkably successful 20 years of providing dog training and daycare. The business has grown from a one-person launch to a company requiring a dog-devoted, well-trained staff of 38 people.
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It all began when founder Tracie Nielson became more than frustrated with the behaviour problems of her Chow-cross pet Niko. By the age of three it had become hard to handle, aggressive to the point of biting and therefore was no fun to even take for a walk, never mind allow friends to visit.
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The only solution seemed to be to put Niko down, but her vet persuaded Nielsen that she had a healthy dog that should be able to be trained. She decided to delve into doggie research and discovered that studying animal behavior rather than dog training was her hope for rehabilitating her pet. Niko passed away recently aged 17 years — a happy, trusted and faithful companion.
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Wanting to share her experience and help others to get the most out of their pets, she quit her job and started Clever Canines in the spare bedroom of her house in June 2005. That same year she drove to New Orleans to volunteer with the animal rescue team in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. It was a great experience and a big confidence builder.
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Launching her first company was a little daunting but Nielson read book from the 'Dummy' series on starting a business. She created her own — she admits not too professional — website, bought a Yellow Page advertisement and left information at pet shop counters.
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Pretty soon, she had a house full of clients and needed more space and help. She had hoped for two classes with eight dogs. Soon, there were five classes each with 20 to 25 canines. Fortunately, Joe Scorgie was a big help and in 2007 he became a partner in the firm. Next, with two full-time staff, they moved to a bigger house.
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Nielson is a great believer in that dogs need to be trained in the 'wild' versus indoors and in 2022, Clever Canines was able to purchase a 10,000-square-foot industrial building in Manchester, sitting on an acre of land. It provides room for a daycare that takes in around 110 dogs each day, 7,600-square-feet of outdoor training and play space, and a 2,200-square-foot agility yard.