Sotra Hundehall is Western Norway’s largest indoor arena for dogs. With nearly 1000 square metres, Pia Anonsen can welcome people to training and courses in brand new modern facilities.
After a few years in a rented greenhouse at Møvik, membership grew so much that the idea of a larger, dedicated dog hall took shape.
Pia wanted to find a plot that would conflict as little as possible with local residents — there will of course be a lot of visitors, and a dog hall inevitably brings some barking. The choice of an industrial area at Skogvåg eventually went through after a few rounds with the municipality regarding zoning.
Building a dog hall is a big project, with a big loan, lots of paperwork and a huge number of hours from family and friends. After a hectic winter, the new hall opened on 1 April 2026, with 900 square metres of artificial turf divided into a small and a large hall, a kitchen, a teaching room, toilets and a strength training loft on the roof.
The hall uses Velpr as a self-service booking system for its members. Members pay for either a half-year or full-year membership and are then sent a personal club code by Pia. With this code, members can book themselves into available time slots. As of May 2026, Sotra has over 60 members.
To make hall utilisation and the sharing of hall time between members as fair as possible, some restrictions have been set up for bookings. You can only book up to one week in advance, and you can only have 4 hours outstanding at any one time. This prevents anyone from getting in early and booking up all the best times.
There is also a focus on those who book times releasing them if they end up not being able to use them. This prevents the hall from sitting empty unnecessarily.
The biggest activity in the hall is agility. Some booking times are dedicated to agility and 5 spots are set up for each of these hours. Velpr keeps track of who has booked which time, so you can know whether you will be training with someone in class 3 or whether there are beginners in the hall.
Time is also blocked out for group training sessions for various activities such as agility and rally obedience.
A positive effect of the TV series Bølle til bestevenn (From Bully to Best Friend) is that there is less stigma around seeking help with everyday obedience. It has become more widely known that recall is something you can achieve and that a harmonious relationship between dog and owner is possible with training and good habits. Puppy courses, everyday obedience and young dog courses have therefore seen a boost.
Part of Pia’s job is to make sure that activities and courses in the hall are in demand. Especially for agility, she has managed to attract international stars such as Petr Pupik from the Czech Republic, who was at Sotra in March. Soon Zeljko Gora from Croatia will also be coming. In addition, Norwegian stars are drawn to the hall.
For Pia, a hectic autumn, winter and spring season is drawing to a close, and there will be time to plan activities for next autumn and winter. She is also in the process of training her new 5-month-old Jack Russell. Basic training is well underway and the goal is to return to the agility ring.
Sotra Hundehall has its own website with plenty of information at sotrahundehall.no, and booking for members can be found at velpr.no/sotra.
