iluvdogs

We just dropped off our Thai dog, Tiger, a few days ago at the military base near Viphavadi Rangsit Road (past Laksi) to be trained. The trainer is an Air Force dog trainer who lives on the premises with his wife and kids. Most of the trainers also accept dogs to train privately and use the military facilities. This particular man was recommended by a friend of my father who’s dog he is currently training.

We had discussed the logistics of the training i.e. cost, methods, type of commands, etc. previously. The entire course lasted 3 months would cost 12,000 baht. In that time the dog would be housed in the kennels, protected from mosquitoes with mesh-wire. We provided our own dog food and told the trainer we just want the basic commands, especially off-leash commands, as our neighbors are mostly Muslim and feel threatened by our dog.

The trainer said we could come by to check on Tiger’s progress and didn’t make any promises to make her a 100% obedient dog because she is a Thai dog. He mentioned that Thai dogs are more feral than other dog breeds and tend to be a bit more resistant to training and therefore can be unreliable when given the opportunity to bolt and run.

We would come by to see her in a few weeks. He promised to take good care of her and he walked with her away from us. If all goes well, our beagle puppy will be joining her in a month or so to be trained. I couldn’t bring myself to let the puppy go just yet! Perhaps when Tiger is done with her training in 3 months we can do a switch and give Taco to the trainer for 3 months. By then Taco will be 6 months old and I will be off to New Zealand for 2 months. When I come back, I would have to continue working with the adolescent Taco and 2 year old Tiger regularly to keep their training fresh.