“I've lived with dogs my whole life!”
It all started at home in Särna when Anna-Lena Arvidsson was a little girl and bought sweets at the Koppartransmacken. There was a thin chocolate with pictures of dogs on the wrapping paper. Anna-Lena started collecting the pictures and that's how it went.
For 20 years, Anna-Lena and her husband Per-Erik, together with A-L's colleague Lasse, have been running Hundnära in Gruddbo. "When we started, many dogs in the course were from Gruddbo and the rest of Sollerön. Now they come from Mora, Orsa, and Älvdalen municipalities and also from Rättvik and Västerdalen. With many different breeds.
We are established and get customers through the “word-of-mouth method”. When Solleröbla-det interjects that interest in dogs is increasing in Sweden, Anna-Lena nods. “In December 2020 alone, the number of registered dogs in Sweden increased by 14%. Today, there are close to a million dogs in the country. Here in the parish, I estimate that the number is around 300.”
The range at Hundnära includes both evening and weekend courses. The basis is everyday obedience for puppies with 2-hour sessions, of which one hour is outdoors and one hour is theory indoors. “You should play with everyday obedience,” says Anna-Lena. “Teach the dog by rewarding what we want more of, if the dog does something we don’t want, for example jumping on you, you should ignore it until it gives up and then we reward the better behavior.
Every other Sunday during the winter months there is a Drop-in and there is also a basic course in Agility.
A popular course is “Rally Obedience” where the owner/manager and dog walk a course with various signs describing movements that the dog and handler should do together.
Solleröbladet asks if you can, for example, train your dog to look for chanterelles in the forest.
“Yes, it is possible,” answers Anna-Lena. “In the Nose Work training, the dog uses one of its primary senses, the sense of smell. Dog and handler are asked to search for special scents in different environments. The dog then receives both mental and physical stimulation.
My motto is that “It should not only be fun to have a dog. It should also be fun to be a dog,” laughs Anna-Lena. Solleröbladet thanks for the coffee and notes that there is great enthusiasm and knowledge at Hundnära in Gruddbo.
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