How to choose a dog school?

First, a few words from Felix, manager Phuket-Dog-Resort:

„We dogs are very, very sensitive to moods of our human friends. We feel whether you are happy or sad, anxious or courageous, tired or full of beans.

We can do a lot of things much better than you. We smell things you never could smell and hear events a long time before you become aware of them.

Also, we are great fighters and can protect you and your properties.“

A dog might be the only animal who still comes to you when treated very badly. Not because he likes you, but because he fears you. You should ever keep in mind, that a dog is a very sensitive being.

A good dog school brings forward all the positive dog's talents and lessens the unwanted characters. Honestly, you also should keep in mind that there are limits. For example, it will take a lot of efforts a dog to give up hunting at a breed which was expecially raised for hunting!

A good trainer works only with non-violent training methods – would you trust in and work for somebody who hurts you? Very likely not!

At the Phuket-Dog-Resort we use training methods which are based on dogs nature to make the dog to follow and work with his trainer full of joy.

For example, we have never used and will never use electrical collars or similar equipment. With this kind of equipment you can achieve results very fast, but on the other hand you destroy the dog's individual character. As a result you have a machine and robot, but no dog who feels with you!

Many problems you might have with your dog are minor problems, especially at the beginning, which can be solved fast by a short telephone call. We will try to advise you good as possible and free of charge - for a good relationship beween you and your dog!

How we educate dogs

My name is Ritchie – I was born on Koh Samui, responsible for „security and obedience“ at Phuket-Dog-Resort:

„As an elder dog I have met many of my dog-collegues and I know their problems and worries. Our human friends want us to do things like easily walking at a leash, immediately come to them when they call us, to lay down on command, to protect the property without killing the postman and other things we really can do very well.

Often I hear that my dog-collegues have been punished - sometimes very hard - when they have not done what our human friends expect.

The reason is NOT that we do not obey or that we have a mind of one's own – we simply do not know what you expect as we have not learned it!!!

This is very frustrating for us dogs!!!

Do you speak dog's language?

Between human beings and dogs are a lot of misunderstandings based on the different languages. People speak their mothertongue and often some foreign languages perfectly, but...can you speak „dog“?

Watch a pack!

Take some time and watch a group of dogs living in a pack – on Phuket island there are many groups of street dogs and they are ideal for these studies!

By doing so you will observe:

1. There is a clear ranking in the pack and one dog is the boss.

2. There are clear rules which have to be followed.

3. There is no real violence within the pack and nobody becomes seriously hurt.

4. There is a lovingly atmoshere within the pack: They cuddle together or clean somebody's ears.

5. This peacefull pack can be highly aggressive against dogs from outside.

6. They play a lot of time together.

7. There is very little "verbal" communication, most communication is done "non-verbal".

Our training

By keeping the obersvations above in mind, you get an impression on how we educate dogs:

1. There is a leader who is clearly understandable for the dog staying at an higher level - this is his trainer.

2. Established rules have to be followed consecently – there are no exception from the rule as long the rule is not changed generally.

3. There is no violence – it is not allowed to hit the dog, to be unnatural loud towards the dog or be cruel otherwise.

4. Cuddeling, gromming and playing around are part of every day.

5. It is programmed in dog's nature to be aggressive against everything which might be able to minimize his recourses like his food. This has to kept in mind for the whole education.

6. It is difficult for a dog to „interprete“ spoken words – for the dog our commands sound often very similar and they „mix them up“. It takes a very long time, this are months or even years, until a spoken command is clearly learned. It is most important to train an non verbal command like a command related handsign.

The verbal communication between dog and humans should be quitly as possible – a dog can hear things a human being never could hear.

If you would like to read more have a look at the Education FAQs.