Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Dec 7: Bhuto, a three-year-old Rottweiler, began to frantically sniff the ground when its owner, a Kolkata-based doctor called Anup Mukherjee, calmly wore a pair of polythene gloves and waited patiently till Bhuto finished attending to his nature’s call. Mukherjee then proceeded to pick up the faeces and put them away in a nearby garbage box.
“That is responsible dog rearing,” said Subrata Ranjan Prusti, secretary of Orissa Kennel Club (OKC), who was watching admiringly from a distance.
“Where have you seen anybody doing such a thing like Mukherjee did? Such responsibility on his part is commendable. But hardly anyone shares his sense of dog-rearing. This is one of the reasons we conduct the dog show in the city every year, to raise awareness among people on the basics of dog-rearing,” Prusti said.
Most of the times, dogs are not acclimatised properly to their surroundings, as a result of which they become aggressive towards other dogs and strangers. Prusti said dog owners must diligently follow the basics of dog-rearing if they want their puppy to grow up into a strong, healthy, well-behaved, dog.
Another drawback for denizens is the severe lack of proper walking space in the city, such as grounds, where people can take their pets for long walks.
“Only a well-behaved dog is a happy dog. And to make a dog happy, its owner has to be trained properly. The owner must know the pros and cons of dog-rearing,” said Prusti adding OKC will soon organise a workshop for dog owners of the city. The workshop will be free of cost and anybody can register for it at the OKC office, he said.
Besides, the OKC has also written to the state government seeking land to construct a dog park. “We want it under PPP mode. If the government allots us land, OKC would bear the entire cost,” said Prusti.
The Kennel Club has also come up with a three-month training programme for candidates wishing to become professional dog trainers. “There are not enough trainers in the city to cater to the growing number of dog owners. We need more professional trainers and OKC is aware of this fact. So we have come up with a training programme through which we can impart dog training courses to unemployed youths in the city,” said Prusti.
The programme begins with basic level training and will go all the way up to advanced stages such as obedience and guardian training. Interested candidates can register for the course at OKC’s office. Course fee begins
`10,000.