Pet keeping: Doggie dos and don’ts

Dog trainers in Islamabad believe that the majority of dog owners don’t know the basics of pet keeping.

ISLAMABAD:

Train yourself to train your dogs — a motto to abide by for all dog owners and enthusiasts, according to Numair Shahzada, 24, owner of Wet Nose Dog Training. An ad man by day (a senior creative executive at an advertising firm), Shahzada has been running his canine side-business for only six months, but says he has years of experience behind him. 

In his view, dog owners in Islamabad don’t know the first thing about socialising their pets or communicating with them — a skill left to inexperienced trainers who use forceful coercion, fear and (sometimes) even abuse to acclimatise dogs to their environment.

“But I’m not like that. I’m not one of those nasty trainers. People feel comfortable with me; they can relate because I communicate easily and I make their pets feel at ease,” says Shahzada.

Hence, many consider Shahzada as Islamabad’s very own dog whisperer, a Pakistani version of Cesar Millan (world renowned dog behaviour specialist). He nurtures an innate and deep bond with the canine-kind.

Shahzada reminisces, “I formed a very strong bond with my first dog Bruno, from the first day. Although, I was too young at the time to know how to effectively ‘train’ my dog, I ended up teaching him all sorts of tricks, just by instinct.”

Years later, he decided to advance his passion further and started researching, “I bought books on animal behaviour and even started working with Dr Faisal (local veterinarian) and hosted a dog show with him.”

He thought of starting his own training business as a response to the people he met. “I wanted to give something to these people. They had such beautiful dogs but didn’t know what to do with them,” states Shahzada.

Inspired by Dr Ian Dunbar, a veterinarian, writer and behavioural specialist, Shahzada honed his own method, “It’s very interactive and is designed to make the pet feel totally comfortable. I will teach the dog something first and then I’d make the owner do it himself. It’s important for the dog to know who is the alpha.”

He believes in “positive reinforcement,” meaning the dog should feel like it’s benefiting from the training. “I generally start out with a reward system, then I move on to praise, love and incentives.”

Dog owners generally complain about two major behavioural issues — which are jumping and barking. Both are remedied easily. “One thing I feel Pakistanis aren’t aware of is that you need to socialise your dog. You know, a new puppy needs to interact with at least 150 people.”

He uses the example of a dog he has trained — the pet had a particular fondness for barking at motorbikes. To ‘fix’ the pooch problem, Shahzada took him on regular walks to the market. “I made him get used to the bikes and made sure he was in a calm state when bikes came by. Every time he didn’t bark, I’d reward him,” he says.

Mohommad Asif, a local trainer, who has seen trainers hitting pets infront of their owners, agrees, “Hitting the dog while you’re training or tugging its leash too hard is bad. It lowers the dog’s confidence.”

Shahzada takes issue with such punitive measures; he maintains that violence is never the key — if anything, it will lower the dog’s trust. “Some trainers go too far and will hurt or scare your pet to teach it when the owner is not around.”

Training a dog is a life-long process, explains Shahzada, and much of it involves the owner as much as the pet. To further this, Shahzada wants to teach a behavioural course for owners and their pets so he can impart some of his knowledge to the greater public. “I also want to start a doggie day care in Islamabad, where people can drop off their dogs if they need babysitting, grooming or basic training.” 

Published in The Express Tribune, October 17^th, 2011.