Anyone from Alberta?

Where are the Alberta peeps at?

The BF and I are tentatively planning a move to Alberta (from Ontario) in spring/summer 2014. So give me the scoop. I know the winters are cold. I'm digging the idea of hiking in the mountains. We would be moving to Edmonton (well, probably St. Albert or Fort Sask... somewhere just outside of Edmonton).

My one main concern now that we're seriously thinking about doing this is that I need a new trainer and a new agility facility. Where do you train that you like? Must be positive reinforcement only. Must be flexible... in the sense that I have sighthounds and most trainers aren't overly familiar with working with sighthounds. I want a trainer who will offer their advice but if I say something isn't going to work or I'm not comfortable with I want them to be confident and understanding enough that they can say "Ok, well how about we try this instead?" and give me something new based on my feedback. For example... I said to one trainer once that was wanting me to teach a down from a sit that I don't ask for a down from a sit with my greyhounds. They have a hard enough time holding sits and not fading into a down to begin with, so I don't encourage that. She said "Okay then, we'll just have you do it from the stand then". As opposed to insisting that it has to be done from a sit. Even if she thought I was nuts I appreciated her being flexible and understanding. Whereas I've also dealt with a trainer who made her disdain clear and also suggested that maybe greyhounds were just dumb. Not cool. Sorry for the rant.

I am looking for a facility with year round agility training capability.

What else do you love to do with your dogs in Alberta that we don't have in Ontario? Are there any fun dog festivals? In Ontario there are a few different ones every year and I'm hoping we can continue that when we move.

Anything else I should know or consider about Alberta living?

YOU NEED TO MOVE!!

If you do move to those cities then you will be 1hr and a bit from me.

If you want to be near Edmonton looking into Leduc as well. It's south of Edmonton.
Google Brenda Brown she breeds tollers and porties. I can't for the life of me remember her kennel name. I trained with her and I loved her. She could point you in the right direction if she isn't training anymore

Well it would certainly be nice to be close to the mountains. Can't say I'm overjoyed about the cold!

In the edmonton area there's Justine Davenport of course! But there are SO many to choose from, lots of world team members.

I'll be moving to Devon in the spring which is just southwest of Edmonton.

Why doesn't anyone move to fort mcmurray? :lol-sign:

My mother in law lives in Devon, nice quiet community, not much in the town itself, bedroom community, but it super close to Edmonton and leduc. I would love to buy an acreage outside of leduc, closer to calmar (I love the small town hick feel of calmar lol).

I will probably doing some agility comps by Edmonton this summer, I hope I get to meet some of you guys!

And that's all I can add, I can help you if you decide to move further north lmao since I actually live in northern Alberta :rofl1:.

My BIL and his fiancé live in Fort Sask. BIL sometimes heads up to Fort Mac for work. Edmonton is far enough north. Honestly, Calgary sounds better to me. I could go for those Chinook winds every so often!

Sounds like Edmonton is getting them this weekend, and we get them too, we just have better northern lights


That's summer time.

Well send 'em to us! Ontario is so cold today. And by so cold... I mean warm compared to Edmonton. Lol.

Honestly, I worry about the dogs if we move there. They both are miserable pains in my butt on the morning walk thanks to the cold. Edmonton will be worse. I worry about the hounds. I know plenty of hounds live there but still...

Everyone from Ontario is moving to Alberta! I swear, I know like six different people that have moved there in the last year or so. Crazy.

To be honest everyone from everywhere is moving to Alberta, or working here, spending all their time here, bitching about being here and lamenting about 'back home'.

Why is no one moving to Cape Breton?!! Even the people who live here are in Mac to work. We're a dying island ahaha

To be honest, and no one who moved(s) here take offence (unless you're one of the people I describe) if you only plan to move here, and take what you can, bitch about how horrible it is, dirty it is, cold it is, then stay home, we are full. If you want to move here and make this your home, even temporarily, but actually contribute to the community you move to, and try to find something you like about being here please come, we have lots of room for those people. It's very hard to hear people complain about your home all.day.long, hard and frustrating. There are lots of things to do, outdoors and in, sitting in your place and whining that you miss the ______ is just making you miss what we do have to offer, the Alberta bit of the mountains, forests, lakes, rivers, hiking, biking, skiing, snowboarding, bungee jumping into an indoor wave pool, one of the biggest indoor amusement parks, Halloween at Fort Edmonton Park! So much stuff!

Sorry for the rant I love this place, it's my home.

I plan to come visit it some day if that helps!

I know Cape Breton pretty much contributes the highest amount to 'commuting' workers in the Mac. I'm not sure it's that they hate your town but most people are leaving behind families, wives, husbands, children, etc. to be able to survive. It sucks. There's very little money in Cape Breton& tradespeople aren't being paid what they are owed& the most viable option to get ahead is to fly out there. It's less about what you guys have (certainly more than our little island) and more about they feel the same as you- they love their home. They miss it. Desperately, usually. That doesn't excuse them for saying terrible things about Mac but it hopefully gives a little charity to them. Especially this time of year. I know so many people (men, mostly) who are missing out on milestones with their children (Christmas concerts, first steps, first words, graduations, birthdays, etc.) just so they can keep their house. Or afford to eat.

Do it We're very friendly& if you come during autumn, it's hard scenery to beat!

I live in Calgary. I've lived in Edmonton, Medicine Hat, and a handful of small towns I wouldn't really recommend living in (High River ain't that bad, though!)

Calgary is pretty awesome. Honestly we don't have a ton of dog events. The Cochrane humane society has the mutt strut every year and that's fun to go to. We have a good couple large dog shows too, but nothing major. I love going to the mountains, it's one of my favourite things about living in Calgary, they're only 1hr or so away, further if you have specific areas you want to go to. Calgary is booming city as well, ripe with potential for jobs. Our cost living is very high, but it matches it with great wages (depending on your job.) Our arts culture isn't too bad, it doesn't compete with Vancouver but there's events all over if you know where to look. All in all, Calgary is beautiful, relatively clean and busy city. Our weather isn't too harsh. We usually have a couple weeks where we hit -40 (or more with windchill) but then usually sit at around -15 to -25 or so. Which I find completely fine, but with whippets they might not like it too much. The chinooks are nice but get ready to have a headache during them. Heck, last week it was -45, and this week we actually hit +3. But now back to -18.

For trainers I don't have too much to recommend, as I don't trial Duke in sports (but I really gotta get on that) but I love Laurie Albright and Hyper Hounds.

Calgary and Edmonton both have a comic and entertainment expo as well, if you're into that kind of thing, April Bruce Campbell is coming to Calgary...enough reason to move there IMO :lol-sign:.

Yes! The Comic Expo is amazing. You have to get tickets really early because they sell off fast. We also have otafest too if you're into anime. And the Taboo sex show, and lots of horse shows at Spruce Meadows.

I do get that, I really do, but being miserable to everyone and not caring about this community isn't healthy either.
I know people move here for the money, I even get that many move here uninformed about the cost of living, average single family dwelling is 850,000 or some crazy thing) and that they are leaving family behind, but being jerky isn't the right answer, then complaining about how everyone you meet is an asshole, you get what you receive. There are other answers, moving the family here so you don't have to miss out, even moving them closer, like Edmonton where things are cheaper. Most of the oilsands companies pay to fly them that far at the end of their shift, and back for the start. But the bottom line us that they chose to move here, weather it was because they want to keep their home, or for the money, or what have you, no one here forced them to come, why not try and make the best of it?

Do you go to either of them? We go every year...to both :rofl1:, although this may be our last year for Calgary it's just gotten way too big now.