PETALING JAYA: The training of both dogs and owners are just as important in responsible pet keeping, says professional dog trainer Anthony Stephen Kolandasamy.
Stephen, who is the owner of Stephen Guard Dogs, a dog training academy based in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, said most dog owners make mistakes which jeopardises everyone, including their pets, when they fail to enrol their animals for training when they are young and pliable.
"Every dog breed, especially the medium to large pedigree dogs, need basic obedience training, which is something many owners don't take into account when acquiring the dogs," said Stephen, 68, who operates the academy together with his son, Rafael.
The consequences of failing to instil a measure of obedience into their dogs can be disastrous for the neighbourhood, as well as the animals themselves.
"In the end, the owners have zero control over their dogs," he said in response to news about the two Rottweilers in Kedah that were euthanised on April 2 after attacking five people in their neighbourhood a day earlier.
On April 3, the Kedah state government announced that it was mulling legislation to ban "aggressive dog breeds" from being kept as pets in residential areas in the state.
On survival tips when encountering potentially hostile dogs, he said the advice to "stay still and avoid eye contact" can work with most strays, but different strategies may be necessary when encountering certain pedigrees.
"Although holding your ground and not giving eye contact helps, there are dogs which will still attack no matter what. Some people may try to run or tremble or squeal in fear while holding their position, which gives the dogs indication that you are afraid.
"Most strays will back off if you stare at them directly, but when facing some pedigree dogs, you may have to fight back using whatever you have," said Stephen, who has been dabbling in dog training for more than 40 years.
He is also concerned that there are many self-proclaimed trainers here dishing out advice when they had never undergone any formal training in dog handling.
"There are many 'YouTube trainers' here who have never been to any kind of professional dog training school. In the United States, you cannot train dogs without being certified by an authorised school, and neither can you open a dog training business," said Stephen, who has certification from the US, Germany, and the Netherlands as a guard dog and dog obedience trainer.
"All our training courses meet American and Dutch national standards," he said, adding that his clients ranged from foreign government agencies all the way to individual dog owners.
Stephen's team of certified trainers have more than 50 years of experience from training dogs in Europe (including for government agencies), Asia, and the US in areas of protection, discipline, detection, law enforcement, and assistance for individuals with limited mobility.
His proudest moment this year was when the Malaysian Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) acquired several trained Belgian Malinois through him to combat wildlife and wildlife parts smuggling at main entry points such as KL International Airport.
The sniffing team under Perhilitan's care can detect creatures such as snakes, and objects such as pangolin scales, just to name a few.
"We could see that incidences of such smuggling have dropped at KLIA since the sniffer dogs started duty there and elsewhere," he said.
Interestingly, he added dogs can also be trained to detect minute leaks from gas pipelines, a practice that is increasingly common in the oil and gas industry in developed countries.
However, he added that such dogs need to be trained outside of Malaysia currently, with training periods lasting up to three months before they can enter service.
