Taitung County Government’s stray animal shelter has set up the nation’s very first dog behavior correction team to help members of the public to train their dogs and resolve any difficulties they may have in raising their pets. These services are offered free of charge, with the aim of cutting the abandonment rate and raising the adoption rate.
“Lie down, Lucky — good dog. Lie down, Lucky — good dog.” Chi Wei-lien, a well-known trainer, keeps repeating these words, which, combined with hand signals and savory roasted pig’s liver, induce a dog to crouch down and crawl under a bench to get the liver. After repeating this exercise again and again, the dog understands the command and lies down even when the bench is not there. Similar techniques can be used to train dogs to obey other basic commands such as “sit,” “heel” and “stay.”
Wu Tzu-ho, director of the Taitung Animal Disease Control Center, says that the most cases of pet abandonment result from people not understanding animal behavior and not knowing how to handle annoyances caused by their pets, which makes it hard for them to get on well together. In view of this, the Taitung Animal Disease Control Center sent eight of its staff and volunteers for training at National Pingtung University of Science and Technology’s Working Dog Training School so that they could become seed teachers, and now they are providing training courses for animal volunteers and businesspeople in Taitung County, with Chi traveling to Taitung to give lessons.
Photo: Huang Ming-tang, Liberty Times
照片:自由時報記者黃明堂
Wu says that the problem is not always with the dog; sometimes the problem is with the dog’s owner. Asking the right questions can reveal where the problem lies and show how to improve relations between people and their dogs.
(Liberty Times, translated by Julian Clegg)
台東縣政府流浪動物收容中心成立全國第一個「犬隻行為矯正小組」,免費協助民眾訓練狗,解決飼養寵物時所遇到的困難,盼降低棄養率,提高領養率。
「來福趴下,好乖;來福趴下,好乖」,馴犬名師祁偉廉不斷重複,配合手勢及香噴噴的烤豬肝,誘導狗兒趴下鑽進長椅底下才吃得到烤豬肝。如此不斷重複,不必長椅,狗就聽得懂趴下了。使用類似的技巧可以訓練犬隻服從「坐」、「腳旁伴行」、「等待」等基本指令。
台東動物防疫所所長吳子和說,民眾棄養案件中,多數是民眾因不懂寵物行為,無法解決寵物造成的困擾、導致相處困難。有鑑於此,台東動防所派八名員工及志工到屏東科技大學工作犬訓練中心受訓,成為種子教師,再針對縣內動物志工及業者辦訓練研習,由祈偉廉團隊到台東授課。
吳子和說,其實問題不見得都發生在狗身上,有時反而是狗主人有問題,透過諮詢,就能找到答案,促進人犬關係。
(自由時報記者黃明堂)
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