I am a semi retired physio therapist and live with Pieter, my partner of long standing, the dogs Tina and Bruno and two cats named Anghel and James.
Both Tina, a Border Collie and Australian cattle dog cross, as well as Bruno whose ancestors stem from any known dog species are rescue dogs coming from TEARS.
Anghel the pedigreed aristocrat of the family was flown in from Johannesburg ten years ago while James selected me at the same time to rescue him from the change room of what was then the Health and Racket Club at Green Point.
Bruno was rather suddenly introduced to the existing family about two months ago when Simba, the nine years old ridge back suddenly died from an intestinal cancer. Tina although she is tolerant of cats was obviously miserable being without her canine mate.
Involvement with CPDC started approximately 10 years ago when I joined the club to train an impossible young Rottweiler to teach him manners after he turned at about eighteen months old into an absolute terror towards canines, felines and humans alike. Thanks to the club’s professional and non violent approach he was neutered and was able to obtain the necessary manners to become a good example of successful obedience training.
It is not surprising that after the abovementioned experience I joined the club’s trainers’ course and now am looking back on ten years of happy involvement of training handlers and their dogs. The non aggressive method as opposed to the ruk and pluk approach which was still considered to be the norm at the end of the 20th century is by far more preferable to achieve required results. Furthermore it is encouraging to have access to the club’s impressive library which is a brilliant source of information to both trainers as well as club members.
