Service over Summer Break

This summer, I tried getting in contact with a dog training company to do some volunteering  work, they responded with a single statement “Give us more information”. When I asked them what they wanted to know, they didn’t respond. Then I contacted my grandpa, he has a dog and goes to training with her here in Trnava, he got us an appointment so I could meet them and talk to them. I hoped that I could help them somehow, but the first time I simply observed their training and listened to what they did and why they did it. We agreed that I would come again, I hoped it would be to help, but once again, I simply observed one of their lessons and learned more things. I learned that dogs are in a hierarchy, there can be no friends, but male and female dogs have different styles of hierarchy. Males are very rigid, while females have an alpha and everything below is a bit muddled. I learned that dogs should walk beside you to show that they aren’t in control, and if they try to walk in front, to bring them behind you and then back beside you as they feel inferior when they are behind you. I learned that and more about training dogs, I will try to contact one of the shelters while I’m still here but for some reason whenever I try to contact places in Slovakia they don’t respond. I also went to a physical therapy session for my grandpa’s dog, who had a knee surgery. They had to remove the joint, and are working on building muscle there, so once a week for around an our, he goes with her on a water treadmill. They fill a tub like structure with water up to her chest and turn on a treadmill to have her walk at a trot, this way she keeps cool, but also works harder as she has to walk in water instead of air.

Pictures and video of the water treadmill: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1j-AIR3GCrOlp7r0kfoLY-dmU78meclkyyTqYAQvX_ek/edit?usp=sharing