Greta goes to school
October 20, 2001 | 12:00am
This is Yuri. I am the mini-Schnauzer in the picture with Kathy, my human. I have taken over my human’s computer because she’s been feeling a little under the weather (whatever that means). All my two brothers (Marx, a Scottish Terrier and Boris, another Schnauzer) and I know is that at night she wheezes and barks (or coughs, as humans would say).
The reason I am writing this story is I know much more than Kathy does about dog school. After all, I’ve been there. Done that. And I have a collar and leash to prove it. All my human knows is what Nathan Narciso, our trainer from the Philippine Dog School, tells her.
Over three years ago when I was just a little pup, my human decided to send me, Marx and Boris to dog school. I must let you know that I come from a champion pedigree line and I have joined a couple of contests and have won first prize. I thought school was unnecessary; Kathy didn’t think so.
The search began for the "trainer of trainers," the dog guru who would not only transform me, Boris and Marx into obedient and well-trained dogs, but also get us ready for the show ring.
At the start, my human’s mom Lolit (this is what her grandchildren call her instead of lola), didn’t like the idea. She told Kathy that their Australian Silky Terrier turned into a bully after he was ‘’trained." Lolit also recalled that in the ’70s, dog-training often involved the use of physical punishment like beating the dog with a stick or hitting him on the nose if he did not follow the trainer’s instructions.
When I overheard this conversation, I vowed never to go to dog school. But my human Kathy felt otherwise and said that the ways of training dogs have changed. No more beating with a stick!
She started doing her homework. She talked to our vet Dr. Lorna Sicam, the humans at the vet’s waiting area, other humans at dog shows, and she phoned and visited what seemed like one million dog schools.
Being the smart doggie that I am, I eavesdropped on Kathy’s conversations:
Dog school is good they say, if you are a first-time owner and want to improve human-canine communication, or if you are having problems teaching your dog to follow basic rules, like where to pee or when to heed your instructions. Another big plus is that dog school can also help rid dogs of any bad habits they might have picked up in the course of their human’s spoiling them.
Finally, Kathy found Nathan Narciso of the Philippine Dog School. He was to be our trainer. Nathan made us feel that dog school was going to be fun. The best part was that each of us would be trained an hour a day right in our own home. No need to travel far to go to school – what a relief!
However, there were rules to follow because after all, this was school. One was our human was allowed to watch our training from a distance (for discipline, see?) For one hour, it was just me and Nathan, who never raised his voice and who made sure I understood the commands through his hand signals.
After one training session, I overheard him tell my human Kathy that he was using the sweet-and-sour approach: "When Yuri does not follow me or is a bad doggy, I get mad at him and I let him know that I did not like what he did. But when he does something good, I make sure that I praise him for a job well-done." There were no special treats for us. Nathan believed that training a dog meant getting to know our psyche. He did not want us to do something because there was a treat in store for a job well-done.
I remember seeing this ‘’treat approach" at dog shows I later joined. It was funny watching those big Dobermans and other dogs doing good just to get a treat.
In school, I learned to sit properly. I don’t slouch, I sit like a champion. When I walk on a lead, I stick to my human’s left side – we don’t get tangled up when we walk and I don’t get distracted by other people, dogs or cars. I am also more polite when I want something she is eating, I sit and wait to be given food rather than grab it from her hand like Greta ( a mini-Schnauzer pup and a girl at that!) does.
Of course, I can shake hands and roll over – but that’s kid stuff, if you ask me.
After one month, Boris, Marx and I graduated from our obedience training at dog school. We knew we had passed the course when Nathan turned over the commands to our human Kathy.
Last week, Nathan came to visit us. We greeted him with our high paws and wet licks. This was also his first time to meet the newest member of our pack, Greta, another mini-Schnauzer who’s a year old, and if you ask me, ripe for obedience training. Thank heavens, Kathy finally noticed that Greta was getting away with almost anything and decided that dog school was what she needed.
Nathan said there have been some changes in the school and that he needed to take Greta away for 40 days for her to complete her course. He explained that doing this made it easier for instructors to get to know their canine students better. Although we were sad to see Greta go, we knew that she will be back.
Greta has been away for a week now. Lolit misses her a lot. Kathy says that life is more peaceful now because there is no one to bully us. Greta used to eat all the treats. She would hoard them in her little corner and eat them while we just watched. We don’t really miss her, except in the mornings when we want to get out. She is the only one who can open the barrel-bolted little gate that separates us from the outside world.
Greta came to visit us over the weekend. She barked a happy greeting to let us know that she is happy at boarding school. Like we did, Greta trains for an hour a day. As a live-in student, she is also getting used to living with other humans and other doggies. Nathan says this will help her socialize.
When I was training for an hour, we would go for long walks with Nathan around the neighborhood. Now Greta walks around the green hills of Antipolo where the Philippine Dog School kennel is located.
Greta’s courses remain similar to ours. The two basic courses for dog training which we completed are obedience training. Here we learned 12 basic commands: Heel, sit, stay, halt, stand, come, shake hands, no, relax, down, good and foot. Once we’ve learned all that, we moved to advance obedience class, where we learned another 10 sophisticated international canine commands: Walk fast, walk slow, over, carry, give, head, flat right, flat left, inside, out.
There are other courses like: guard dog training, sniffing dog training, but thank Dog, we were not made to take those classes.
Nathan told our human that Greta is a smart dog who learns quickly. He also said that he likes her a lot because she likes to cuddle up to him. What can we say – Greta’s teacher’s pet or what?
Dog school is fun. But looking for a good one takes a lot of time, patience and research. If you love your pet, like our human loves us, take time to find a school where dogs are taught to become better pets – not just whacked for not being able to do some stupid tricks like crawl and bark.
One last doggone remark. For us doggies, the best trainer is our human. She says "no" when she means it and she lets us know when we’ve been good.
Nathan agrees with us. He barked to me that the best trainer for a pup is his human because, he says, this bond lasts forever.
Lately, we’ve noticed that there are less treats for us three guys. My human has been saving up. The cost for the 40-day, in-house-stay program for Greta is P12,100. This includes board and lodging (vitamins, dog food – and a nice place to sleep).
She is one lucky gal.
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