It’s hard to believe it, but we’re in July already! And at the Main Campus at the School for Dog Trainers, that means one thing – the start of a new semester for the students undertaking our Master Dog Trainer program. Over the coming months, Class 60 will study a comprehensive six-month program covering all aspects of dog training, mixing classroom theory with hands-on experience.
Our team loves to welcome a wide variety of students from across the globe, and this semester is no different. However, there is one student in Class 60 who has traveled a very, very long way for this class. 9,841 miles, to be precise.
Christine Ho is from Singapore, and is the lucky recipient of our 2021 International Dog Trainer Scholarship. Christine was chosen from a field of very strong applicants. To be eligible for the International Scholarship, applicants must be a citizen of a country other than the United States, and explain how they would use their knowledge after graduation.
To learn more, we interviewed Christine to understand her perspective on dog training, and provide us with some knowledge of attitudes towards dog training in Singapore.
Congratulations on being awarded the Scholarship, Christine! Can you sum up your feelings when you found out about it?
Thank you! I was elated, and felt that this would be the start of something amazing. I have been looking forward to such an opportunity for over two years now. The timing felt perfect and everything seemed to be falling into place.
In your application video, you mentioned that you got your first dog when you were 16. Can you tell us more about her, and how going through a training school helped her?
My first dog, Puppy, was an 8 month old Golden Retriever that was rambunctious, hyperactive, very strong and stubborn. I adopted her from a young lady who had bought her from a pet shop but was unable to keep her. She had to tackle the dog each time to put on her leash, was dragged around during the walk, and had to carry the dog to go home. Puppy had also chewed through the trunk of a palm tree which was 1 meter in diameter over the course of one night. Puppy had a crazy, happy personality, but she was challenging to handle.
After months of trying to train her myself, Puppy was easier to handle, but I still needed more help. She was easily excitable and loved to charge at people and at other things – or she would lie down and refuse to walk. My family enrolled her in a basic obedience group class. The training helped me better appreciate, understand and discern animal behavior. My daily training sessions with Puppy helped us to better understand each other and develop a deep bond. Because I was able to better manage her, I could bring her out more frequently to places she loved – like the beach – or allow her to run off-leash in open fields, knowing that I was still able to maintain control and recall her when needed.
How did you find out about the International Scholarship, and what motivated you to apply?
I wrote to multiple service dog associations to find a program in which I could learn how to train service dogs, and Canine Partners for Life introduced me to Highland Canine Training and the School for Dog Trainers. I read through their comprehensive website and learnt about the International Scholarship.
I was captivated by the curriculum offered in the Master Trainer program, as it was exactly the kind of program I was looking for. I believe it will equip me with the knowledge and experience I need to build a professional dog training school that can provide affordable and well-trained service dogs. I was especially excited to learn about the International Scholarship as it would greatly help me along my journey to train dogs to help people with special needs.
Is there a particular part of the Master Dog Trainer program you are looking forward to? In your application video, you mentioned that you were excited about the service dog phase?
Yes, that is correct. So, my goal is to set up a dog training school to provide affordable and well-trained service dogs to help people with autism spectrum disorders and those affected by other disabilities or disorders in Singapore and Southeast Asia.
With that said, I am deeply interested to learn about dog training beyond the service dog industry. I am fascinated by other forms of dog training such as behavior modification and K9 working dogs, such as those involved in Search and Rescue or Detection. I am also particularly intrigued by how dogs can be trained in conservation detection and can help protect the environment and wildlife.
Service dogs - and service dog trainers - are commonplace in the United States. Do you think there is a reason why there are very few service dogs or service dog trainers in Singapore?
There is a general lack of understanding and acceptance of service dogs in the community. Guide dogs have started to be more recognized and accepted in Singapore in recent times, but guide dog users still face discrimination and unnecessary challenges. Furthermore, prevailing regulations recognize the use of guide dogs in Singapore, but not service dogs. The absence of a recognized service dog training school makes it even harder for those with special needs to get a service dog, and it takes extra time and money to obtain one from overseas.
I hope that with the new information and skills obtained from the Master Trainer program, I will be able to change that. I want to use the skills I learn to tailor the training of service dogs to be suitable for local conditions, and demonstrate how service dogs could help make day-to-day life more convenient for people with physical impairments as well. I also want to ensure the safety and well-being of those with autism or other disorders such as epilepsy, and to help improve their access to service dogs. Finally, I hope to conduct public outreach and education to promote the understanding and acceptance of service dogs, as well as to advocate for legislation so that service dogs and their partners can be better integrated into society.
Thinking about dogs and dog training in general, it will probably be interesting for you to note the differences between Singapore and the US when you are here. Singapore is very densely populated, so can you give our readers some indication of how this affects the type of dogs the residents of Singapore choose to keep as pets? Do they choose smaller breeds due to the lack of space, for example?
In general, I think that most Singapore residents prefer purebreds due to their looks and they keep dogs mainly for companionship. There is little or no need for working dogs by private residents, such as herding dogs or security dogs, as there is no livestock and limited large properties. The majority of Singapore residents live in public housing and the types of dogs allowed are regulated due to space constraints and in order to maintain a pleasant living environment. For those living in private housing, the majority live in apartments and a maximum of three dogs is allowed to be kept in any one private residence.
Furthermore, certain breeds are not allowed in Singapore – such as the Pit Bull, Akita and Dogo Argentino (to name a few), and certain breeds must be muzzled in public areas, such as the Bull Terrier, German Shepherd and Rottweiler.
Have you ever visited the United States? Were you excited about coming here for the Scholarship?
I was fortunate to have traveled to the US a few times for vacation when I was a child. I also participated in a student exchange program and studied for one semester in San Francisco.
This is my first time in North Carolina and I am excited to be blown away by the amazing work done here by Highland Canine Training. I look forward with great anticipation to learn and try all the forms of dog training available.
Do you have any final thoughts, Christine?
I hope to make the best of every possibility to learn and participate as much as possible, in order to make the most of this extraordinary opportunity given to me.
