Dogversation...

I finally published my own dog training website!!! Check it out and let me know if you like it:

www.dogversation.ae

Sonja Gehlsen is the UAE's first certified German Dog Trainer. Whether your dog is stubborn, nervous, insecure, obsessive, hyperor just normal, Sonja Gehlsen, will work with you and your best friend to create a better bond and solve your challenges...

The Paulo & Liwa show...

We took Nixi, our small boat, to a nearby island for an early morning trip. It is definitely worth getting up early as the mornings are the dolphins favourite ‘chill-out’ time in the shallow waters. Indeed, as soon as we (Suhail, Michelle, Luka and me) approached the island, we were surrounded by dolphins...Paulo & Liwa as always got very excited and as soon as we arrived on the island, Paulo went on his usual dolphin hunting swim. He swims far out into the open sea trying to catch up with the dolphins...at one point I have to call him back as I am not sure how far he would swim and if he would have enough energy to come back all the way to shore. Once Paulo was back, we decided to walk from one side of the island to the other and while walking we could already sense that Paulo and Liwa had a great deal of energy that day...Soon we found an idyllic spot nearby the water where we sat down to ‘chill out’...However, very fast this very ‘idyllic’ spot looked like a hurricane had just come through. The Paulo & Liwa show had started.: They would just run around us as if they got completely insane or they had been injected a considerable dose of ecstasy, dug holes in between us and ran again. It surely is a first class entertainment. At the same time I wonder why they always choose to do it right in the spot that we choose to relax when they have a whole island to themselves...The Paulo & Liwa show was repeated soon after this when we got back to the boat and took out the chairs on the beach to enjoy a few drinks. Paulo and Liwa worked very well in a team to dig holes under our chairs in a way that we would suddenly sink into the sand...Finally, we decided that they got enough fund and that now it was our turn. We drove to another island where there are no dogs allowed to enjoy a nice lunch in the beach club. I tied they dogs up inside the boat and after they drank about 2 litres of water, they took a long nap in the shade enjoying the fresh sea breeze...

Scary dogs...

Challenges dog owners would face with their dogs in Switzerland, Germany or Austria were most of the time very similar: dogs would go hunting when they were not supposed to, they would not come back on command when off the lead and something became more interesting than their owner (for some dogs, anything would turn out to be more interesting than their owner...) and when on the lead, they would tugg their owner around the block...
Well, in the Arab world, things are different! I was soon to find out that the most common challenge faced in this part of the world is that people are actually scared of their own dogs! In Europe this could certainly happen if for example a strong willed dog reacts with aggression when his owner tells him off; but this is not what I am talking about here. One of my first clients is the perfect showcase. She called me one evening asking for help because she could not take her dog out anymore. As she sounded extremely desperate, I went to see her immediately and while I was expecting a ferocious dog, I am facing a 4 months old Golden Retriever puppy! I took him out of his kennel and his owner, a young Palestinian mother, runs away lifting her hands up and screaming hysterically while the puppy is jumping up her legs. This immediately gave me a clear picture of the situation. I caught the puppy, calmed him down and got him to sit so the owner could approach him. However, she still refused to touch him because he was too smelly. Indeed, since he had not been taken out of his kennel for quite a while, he had been doing his business inside and the poor guy surely needed a bath! So the first lesson consisted of showing my new client on how to clean her dog...Given this situation, the same evening we agreed for me to come every day until things are under control. The second lesson consisted of showing my client how to approach and touch her dog. I put him up on the table and had him sit while she had to touch his ears, paws, etc. This lesson was more challenging than you would think as my client asked me several times if her dog could potentially bite her and was very hesitant to touch him. As soon as he would move or try to lick her hand, she would jump back. It seemed like a desperate case and indeed another trainer had given up after the third lesson but Buster was soon to become one of my best students...

Cobe adventures...

Very soon, we went back to the desert and this time we took Cobe, my new doggy student, along. Since he was still a bit insecure back then (this has completely changed now for the good and the bad :-)), we thought that it would be good for him to join us on one of our adventures. Indeed, he very soon got into it...He loved the desert! As soon as he got out of the car he started running up and down the dunes and it seemed that he would never run out of energy...Funnily enough, his colour was so similar to the colour of the sand that sometimes it was difficult to see him and he would become one with the desert...Cobe’s favourite thing to do in the desert: eat camel poo...

Another big adventure for Cobe was his first time at the beach. We took him on our boat ‘Nixi’ to a nearby island and he got his first swimming lesson: while he, Paulo and Liwa were going wild on the beach, he barely noticed that suddenly he was in the middle of the water. He immediately swam like a seal and it seemed like he had been born in the water...while we humans take a long and sometimes painful time to learn how to swim (I have quite a few bad memories about that...), dogs don’t even have to think about it twice: swimming is part of the dog’s natural instincts...Cobe’s favourite thing to do on the beach: pick up empty water bottles...

Desert delight...

Soon after we came back, Martina (my training colleague and friend from the Laubberg) visited us in November and we all decided to go to the desert. It was the first time for Paulo and Liwa to go there since we got back from Switzerland. Well, they had not forgotten how much fun it is to run up and down the dunes...Liwa got particularly crazy and soon her tongue was touching the sand. Paulo, was back in his element. You can literally feel how he belongs there and while we were enjoying a nice bottle of champagne during sunset, he chilled on top of the dune from where he had a breathtaking view over the desert...

Doggy New Year...

My first strategic targets here were the veterinarian clinics. The British Veterinary Clinic (BVC) had already shown interest in dog training before I left to Switzerland and we had then agreed that I would come and talk to them once I was back. This is exactly what I did and they quickly became my first strategic partner. As they were interested in creating more value to their customers, they would recommend me whenever one of their clients would need dog training. Soon after, I came to the same agreement with the German Veterinary Clinic (GVC) which I consider as a perfect match given the ‘German’ connection and the fact that many dog owners here are indeed asking for a ‘German’ dog trainer (Germany still has an extraordinary strong brand value over here!). Since the BVC is located in the city centre of Abu Dhabi and the GVC in a fast growing residential area outside Abu Dhabi, I immediately got an excellent coverage across Abu Dhabi. Once this ground work was done, I quickly started getting phone calls on a daily basis and my agenda filled up at a breath taking speed until I was fully booked with 5 to 6 training sessions a day throughout the first month of 2010!!!

Xmas visit to the Laubberg...

Since I didn’t get to spend too much time with my friends & family while I was in Switzerland, I went back to Germany for Christmas. Together with my mum we decided to spend a weekend in Gansingen, mostly because I had to pick up some stuff which I had to leave behind because I had too much luggage but also because I wanted to buy training material for all my training sessions and because I had been fighting with Hans over the email which had left a very bad after taste. We chose the coldest weekend with minus 15 degree Celsius but despite everyone telling us not to go, I very stubbornly stuck to my plan. Once we arrived, we immediately drove up the Laubberg which was completely covered in snow and BEAUTIFUL and it was a truly nice feeling to be back and to see everyone: Hans the lonely wolf, Andre the trainee, Andrea the dog trainer, Claudia who takes care of the animals, teacher the fox who lives next to my caravan, Sedona (Hans ‘Riesenschnauzer’ who is not so much of a puppy anymore) etc. Angelo was finally gone and with his new owner. Once I picked up everything we drove down to the village and checked into the ‘Baeren’, my favourite local hotel restaurant. Soon after, Hans the lonely wolf and Bryndis the Viking goddess joined us there for a fun filled steak meal with lots of ‘Most’ and wine...Hans and I stopped fighting from this moment and this surely made this trip invaluable...