Nothing prepares us for the sight that awaits us when we get to Cochin Dog Training Academy and Pet Resort. It is in a rubber estate just off the Muvattupuzha route around five kilometres beyond Pattimattam.
The reasonably high compound wall with high gates arouses curiosity. The gate opens to a different world. Discipline, orderliness, cleanliness…the ‘Academy' is all this and more. Whitewashed, straightforward military style (almost) barracks greet you. Dr. Col (Retd.) K. G. Rajasekharan Nair, of the Remount Veterinary Corps (RVC - the veterinary arm of the Indian Army), welcomes us with a cheerful smile. The place is every inch the boot camp it is and Col. Nair agrees. He was (chief trainer) in charge of the dog training faculty of the RVC. With around 30 years in the RVC training dogs and as consultant (dog squad) with the Cochin International Airport, behind him he knows what he is doing. And then there are the stories…
Sniffing explosives
Like the time when a dog trained in detecting explosive devices found a rocket primed for attack atop a tree in Jammu & Kashmir just before daybreak. “The dog kept sniffing and just wouldn't stop. There was something, but where? And then he just sat under a tree looking up,” the Col says. There it was - the rocket waiting for sunrise. “The heat from the sun would have set it off.” The explosives detecting dogs are trained not to bark lest it trigger off an explosion.
The rationale behind training dogs after retirement, Col. Nair says, was as simple as doing something he knew well. What he does with the dogs he trains is a world apart from what he did in the army. ‘Civilian' dogs do not need specialised training like the dogs in the Services need. At the Academy, Col. Nair is assisted by two Army veterans, Subedar Major/ Hon. Capt.Soman K.K. and Subedar Mohan Raj and Thapa, a Nepali helper. The dogs there are pets and their requirements are simple – loads of obedience. “To me it appears toilet training is the problem area,” Col. Nair says. All dogs need lessons, basic obedience followed by advanced obedience. The dogs have to be in the camp, full time, for the entire duration (two months) of the training.
Going out of town and need a place for the pet dog? This is doggy hostel too with 24 hour supervision. Of the 14 dogs, four are hostellers. The ‘juniormost' is a three month-old-pug and the oldest is a year-and-a-half old German Shepherd which disagrees with authority and discipline. The training has a time-table which is strictly followed Col. Nair says. The day begins at 6 a.m. and goes on till 5.30 p.m. Some play, followed by exercise, meal time and rest. To get a feel of what the place is like at play time, Col. Nair turns the dogs loose. AND it is doggy mayhem!
A Great Dane alternates between chasing German Shepherds and nudging irritated pugs intent on committing the entire area to memory, by ‘nose'. The toilet area is partitioned. “Once the dogs are fed they are let out in this area. They are let out only after they are done,” says Col. Nair, as he watches Thapa and Mohan Raj chase the Great Dane and his friend, the German Shepherd. They sure look like they are having fun learning…Bow wow!
