Having a well trained dog in South Africa is becoming more and more important for a variety of reasons. We will explore some of these reason in this blog and why you should be getting your dog trained by a professional in your area. We offer a variety of training that you can read about here.
I have seen many bad news articles in the papers and social media lately about dogs attacking people, eating poison and even killing people. No I bet you thinking wow! How do dogs get that bad?! Well, it’s because people get dogs for whatever reason, then put them in their yards and that’s that. Now, in my humble opinion, I think people who do that to dogs have a serious mental issue. They do not deserve to own living animals and should be locked up themselves.
Dogs are intelligent animals and as such should be continuously exposed to exciting and interesting events. Even if this is just a walk around their local neighbourhood everyday. When this doesn’t happen, people often come up with some bullshit excuse, oh I get home late from work, I’m too tired, my dog is badly behaved on walk, blah blah blah. Fuck It! Why did you get a dog!?
Anyway, if you can’t make time for your dog don’t get one. I know I’m probably preaching to the converted, and the people who really need to see this, never will. But here are a few reasons to get your dog trained:
#1 Boy, 3, mauled to death by pit bull | News24
#2 Port Elizabeth woman, 64, dies after pit bull attack (timeslive.co.za)
#3 ‘Vicious’ dog shot by metro police after attacking child (3) in KZN | Witness (news24.com)
These only happened in the last year. There are probably countless more incidents that go unreported.
Here is some more good news reasons for getting your dog trained:
#1 Farm Attack: Dog Saves the Day.
#2 Proudly South African – Pets who saved lives – Pet Hero
I know many other dogs who have saved their owners lives from attackers. Apart from this, just the fact that my dogs are well trained and everyone knows it, has probably saved me more times than I know from being a target.
Another good story: Why every farmer needs a dog (farmersweekly.co.za)
This are all interesting stories, but where can I get my dog trained, you might be asking, or my dog is old, I probably can’t train it now. Well, all dogs can be trained, from as young as 8 weeks to as old as 10 years, so never think your dog can’t be trained. As to where to get your dog trained, a quick google search for ‘dog trainers near me’ should reveal some hope.
I know in KZN there are many around Pietermaritzburg and Durban. Unfortunately the smaller towns have less options. We train as far away as Kokstad and Underberg in Southern KZN, I’ve even gone up to Limpopo for work. But in KZN there are a few around Durban area like Superdogs, Morningside K9 and Swift K9 who are all highly rated. Around Pietermaritzburg is where we operate but there is also Clever K9, The Dog Training Academy and A1 Puppy School. Up closer to Mooi River is the K9 Academy. So there really isn’t much of an excuse to not get your dog trained. I know in Gauteng and the Western Cape there is so many dog training facilities too. No matter where you are in South Africa there is bound to be a dog trainer close by.
You might be wondering why I’m punting all these other dog trainers and not trying to hook as many clients as possible, well, I don’t worry about how many clients I have, I worry about how many dogs are getting trained! There more dogs that are trained the better! And yes I would love to train them all, but The mere fact that they are getting trained somewhere is the most important part!
So, GET YOUR DOG TRAINED! It will be worth it.
The reasons for getting your dog trained are endless, but the main three that I always push are:
#1 Train your dog so that you at least have control over it in public spaces. Firstly, it’s embarrassing to have a badly behaved dog and secondly, if something goes you want to have to confidence that you can get your dog under control as quickly as possible.
#2 A well trained dog is super intimidating. I’m impressed by powerful breeds like Rottweilers and Belgian Malinois. It is even more impressive and intimidating if the owner has control over the dog. You just know that that dog has composure and could probably chew you up and spit you out on a quick command.
#3 and most importantly a trained dog could save your life. Whether its from a would be attacker or an actual life threatening situation. A trained dog is a faithful dog. It will do all it can to help and protect its owner.
Some people are lucky enough to have a dog that may know what to do instinctively when threatened. But, I’ve seen it time and time again where people say their dog would protect them in a threatening situation. We put a little bit of pressure on the dog and it would rather run away than chase the offender away. So the moral of the story is, don’t assume your dog will do what you want it to do.
GET YOUR DOG TRAINED.
