A little over two years ago, Bob Wiegand took a giant leap of faith. After 40 years of working in automobile sales and advertising sales, he decided he was ready to be his own boss and began the search for the next chapter of his story. Never did he imagine where he’d land, nor how much joy and fulfillment it would bring him.
Fast forward to the present and Wiegand now owns and operates Dog Training Elite Omaha, a thriving dog training business offering obedience, therapy dog, and service dog training to the Omaha metro area, serving clients within an hour radius of the city. The best part, he comes to you!
“We are in-home dog trainers, so we actually go to the client’s house. It’s better for the dog to be in the comforts of their own home,” said Wiegand. And he not only trains dogs but also their owners, equally teaching them as he passes along his pointers, tips, and tricks on a weekly basis.
Likening the first training session to the foundation of a house, Wiegand builds on that foundation each week, and once a dog has completed obedience training, he builds further still through outdoor continuing education classes offered in a group setting.
“We have group classes outside so we’re working with higher distractions, other clients, and other dogs. We have reactive dogs. We have aggressive dogs. They all need to work on their problems in that environment.”
In fact, Wiegand is one of few dog trainers in the area willing to take on aggressive dogs. By the time clients come to him, Wiegand is often their last hope — their only other alternatives being to euthanize their pet or rehome it.
“Seeing the change in the dog and watching the expression on the client’s face as we modify the behaviors on a week-to-week basis…” Wiegand stopped to smile. “It’s so meaningful to me. Yeah, there’s difficult dogs out there. There are very reactive dogs and very aggressive dogs. We do a lot of aggressive dog training. But we see the progress being made — the client and myself — and that satisfaction kicks in that I changed somebody’s life.”
With a wide-ranging clientele base of dog owners in their early 20s to their late 70s, Wiegand’s clients come from all walks of life and their dogs come in all breeds, sizes, and ages. Best yet, his expertise ranges further than just basic obedience training, also training dogs to help their owners with mobility support (think dogs trained to pull owners in wheelchairs or pick up dropped items on command), psychiatric support for autistic clients or those struggling with depression or self-harming, and veterans suffering from night terrors and other PTSD symptoms (who Wiegand admittedly has a soft spot for and offers discounts to).
Asked to reflect on his journey, Wiegand said, “I sell you a brand new car, that new car smell is gone in 30 days and your first payment is due, so you’re no longer happy anymore. With advertising, sure I cashed paychecks, but I’m not changing the world. I’m not changing somebody’s life. I have a sense that I was put on this earth to do greater than just selling cars or advertisements. Training these dogs to be service dogs... Knowing that I’m helping that [hurting] individual... I get goosebumps. You’ve heard the old expression it’s not a job if you love it and that’s how I feel. I get to change people's lives.”
Do you have a dog in need of Wiegand’s brand of compassionate training? Connect with Dog Training Elite Omaha at dogtrainingelite/omaha.com.
Training dogs... Knowing I'm helping... I get goosebumps. I change people's lives.