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?
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?

How did you find out about the International Scholarship, and what motivated you to apply?
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?

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?
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?

Have you ever visited the United States? Were you excited about coming here for the Scholarship?
Do you have any final thoughts, Christine?
