Governor is a quiet listener when Bijoy Marak speaks. He listens to Marak like an obedient student and never complains even if he has to walk an extra mile in the sun. But when with his family, Governor shows his true colours and turns into a mischievous American Bully, annoying his siblings and running around his mother to convince her to play with him.
“He is still being trained and is slowly learning how to be calm and composed,” said the 39-year-old dog trainer, who is lovingly called Joy, after an hour’s walk with six-month-old Governor, owned by Shaheema Rabbani Saikia of Laitumkhrah. Saikia said she named the pup ‘Governor’ because of his unique characteristics and personality.
Marak is probably the only private dog trainer in the city and is a saviour for many households owning foreign breeds who need to learn some etiquette. He is not the usual tough task master but a ‘cool teacher’ who prefers to first study the temperament of his trainees and then customise his training tactics.
Marak’s father, Proloya Marak who is a retired trainer at the K-9 squad of the Meghalaya police, influenced him as a child, he said, adding that he was curious about “how and why the canines behave the way they do” and wondered how easily his father turned them into trained members of the police force. “I would observe them. I would always try to make sense of their behaviour. That is how I learned. There is no formal training,” said Marak, who started in this profession at the age of 18.
“Though my father was the trainer my mother, Purnima Marak, was the real dog lover and fed the neighbourhood dogs and took care of them,” he said, adding, “I am thankful to God for giving me the heart to understand animals.”
As he unleashed Governor inside the compound of Saikia’s house where a makeshift kennel was guarding three puppies of the same breed, two grownups wagged their way through the humans to hug Marak. Governor too got back to his playful self after the morning lessons.
Saikia looked unfazed by the excitement as her toddler had already taken charge of the restless family of Bullies. The child commanded them to behave and they half-heartedly followed it.
“I do not want my dogs to be robotic and sit and rise on my command. I don’t want them to walk on two legs. I just want them to understand how to get along with the surrounding and training helps a lot. My daughter too is comfortable with the dogs around,” Saikia said.
Marak usually has a busy day as he has to hop from one locality to the other to train dogs. Besides breed dogs, Marak can also train local breed and believes that it is always the best option. “It is absolutely wrong to say that breed dogs will be more intelligent and better behaved. Local dogs have better immunity and they too can be trained. It is important that people understand this and adopt local breed. That way, these street dogs will be rehabilitated,” said the trainer and mentiond about a local dog that has proved to be a highly alert watchdog.
He confessed that he is not much into books but became a voracious reader to know about dogs. He got in touch with experts outside the state on internet and exchanged ideas and also attended several seminars , besides getting training for advanced behaviour. The trainer said he is particularly thankful to Dr Kakoty (Shillong-based veterinarian Tridip Kakoty) for his advices.
Marak strongly believes that not one tactic can be used for all dogs and training method has to be modified according to the canine’s nature. “An aggressive dog needs to be handled differently. I still remember training a German Shepherd who was aggressive. So I used to sit outside his kennel and observe him and give him time to know me. It continued like that for two weeks.”
Cocoa and Zimba have a unique bonding with Marak. He has been training Zimba for the last six years. Both the dogs — Cocoa a St Bernard and Zimba a Tibetan Mastiff — are rescued and sheltered by Hyacinth Lyngdoh. While Cocoa, now a year old, came from Kolkata, a traumatised Zimba with a maggot-infested wound was rescued from a house in Shillong when he was seven months.
Zimba is still sceptical about getting close to humans but never barks at strangers without reason, said Lyngdoh as she caressed his mane. “Training is necessary as it helps the dogs become composed. Earlier, Cocoa would bark at the street dogs whenever he went out for a walk but now he has learned to behave,” said the owner.
Marak, who had earlier trained dogs belonging to the army and airforce, never bribes his trainees. Instead, he uses voice command. “The full form of DOGS is discipline, obedience, guarding and sniffing. But it is not necessary that every dog will be good at all these. All humans do not have same qualities. Similarly all dogs do not behave the same way and this the owners should remember,” he explained in the context of some owners nurturing great expectations about their pets.
Cocoa, being the younger one, is mischievous and jumps on her teacher like a restless child. But Marak always keeps his cool. He teaches toilet manners so that the dogs do not dirty roads and also how to behave when being teased by mongrels.
Marak , who is open to training other animals, does not mind walking dogs the whole day and keeps himself occupied with work. According to him, to train a dog, the owner’s cooperation is important. “I come for a few hours but the pet stays with the owner the whole day. So the owner has to practise what is being taught to the dog. But some people think their pets will become remote-controlled after training and everything is the trainer’s responsibility,” said Marak with a hint of annoyance in his voice.
So what does the dog trainer do in his leisure time? Marak said his life revolves around the dogs. He keeps himself updated about new-age training methods and also tries to improvise. “I feel more attached to dogs than humans. They understand me as I do. They are man’s best friend and so I prefer spending more time with them,” he said before taking Cocoa and Zimba out for a long walk.
~ NM