TAKING an abandoned, dispirited dog and turning it into a lively and intelligent pet requires plenty of training and a whole lot of love.
And that’s what a group of animal lovers from the Empangeni Dog Club (EDC) are doing as they use their skills to train some of the shelter dogs at the Empangeni SPCA.
‘The project is the brainchild of pint-sized dynamo, Marlene Sach,’ says EDC’s Lynne van den Heuwel.
‘Marlene is busy completing her animal behavioural course through COAPE (Centre of Applied Pet Ethology) and one of her assignments was to train a shelter dog in basic obedience.’
She passed this test with flying colours and the dog she trained for her assignment now has a good home, and his new family are delighted with his intelligence and good behaviour.
‘Not that I can take any credit for his intelligence,’ says Marlene, ‘but without the training no one would have known he had it.
‘I didn’t see it at first. He was very dull and depressed in kennels; he only came alive as I worked with him.
‘He may well have been overlooked, and the only interest shown in him before training was from people wanting a ‘guard dog’.
‘Now he has found a wonderful home and is a much loved family pet.’
Project roll-out
Anyone who has successfully trained their own dog could make a SPCA dog ‘adoptable’ just with training, according to Marlene.
She is prepared to devise a plan or programme for those dogs with issues – most of the problems are fear, kennel stress or depression.
The volunteers meet Marlene out at the SPCA premises on Saturday mornings to train their respective shelter dogs.
‘If any of these are fortunate enough to find their ‘forever’ homes and get adopted, the Empangeni Dog Club will give them and their lucky new addition to the family a free six-week beginner course at the Empangeni Dog Club.
‘This is a wonderfully heart-warming and rewarding project and all it needed was a little lady with a heart of gold to get it off the ground,’ says Lynne.
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