Dog ownership comes with it a whole host of responsibilities, not least to ensure that our dogs are kept fit and healthy, are well socialised and have good manners when out and about in public in the two-legged world.
Some dogs ace the calm and friendly from the get go; they had a fab start in life with their litter mates and a mummy dog who knew how to handle her brood. These pups go on to live with a family who are willing and able to give them all the help they need to learn to be well behaved dogs.
Other dogs struggle with day to day life. Perhaps they had a less stable upbringing fraught with danger on the street, maybe they were badly handled as a young dog, some had an unfortunate first experience at a play date, others are just one of those dogs that warrant a little more time to develop and have some “quirks” that need ironing out - yup I have one of those!
Learning in an indoor or outdoor enclosed training area, such as a fenced field or arena, is fab but how many dog owners have seen their dogs master an amazing trick at class only to epically fail to walk in a straight line down the street where there are so many distractions - food, cats, stray dogs, people, cars ... can your dog handle a real life situation and are they prepared for the world at large?
Thankfully, help is at hand in Bahrain as Misha (that’s my slightly dizzy “I don’t know I’m a labrador“ ) and I found out when we joined Pauline Richards, Owner of Delmon Boarding Kennels and Cattery and one of Bahrain’s best known and loved dog trainers, at her “out and about” Saturday morning dog training class - which when all said and done is more about training the handlers (that’s me and my class mates) than the dogs! If my dog is doing something wrong it is probably down to me for accidentally “training” him to do it!
Misha’s classmates range from several “straight out of the shelter” rescue dogs with few lead skills but a lot of love to give, a handful of beautiful mixed breed Bahraini specials snatched out of danger at some point in their life, a host of little tykes with barks way bigger than their size, a selection of handsome large breeds such as German Shepherds, Great Danes, and Labrador retrievers - some students are fabulously well trained adults, others youngsters with a lot to learn, and with all levels and ages in between - you can decide if I’m talking about the dogs or their owners - it makes for an interesting class!
So we march up and down at various locations in Northern Bahrain practicing our heal work, mastering the art of the meet and greet, learning to recall, play nicely and more. Every session is different so neither dogs or owners get bored or too familiar with the routine and as you never know who is going to turn up we are kept on our their toes.
Of course, we are careful to clean up after our dogs, make sure that onlookers are at a comfortable distance and enjoy frequent rest breaks - mostly for the owners who probably get more of a workout than the dogs!
If you own a dog and want to polish your skills, add a few 1000 steps to your 10,000 a day target and make some two and four legged friends come along 9am-10am every Saturday morning.
Timings are likely to change as it gets warmer so message @delmonkennels on Instagram or Facebook for more information and the location of this week’s session. You can also call 1769 4066 Misha is looking forward to meet you next week!
Hashem 2/18/2020 8:20:07 PM
I love your article and for spreading the word about this initiative from Pauline Richards at Delmon Kennels. Hope alot of people read this article and benefit from the out and about Saturday morning trainings.