Owning a dog can bring great joy, but it also involves great responsibility, as these loyal companions can be quite a handful if not trained properly.

The Agriculture, Fisheries & Conservation Department notes that the number of dogs and cats kept by the public has been increasing in recent years, so it has been actively promoting responsible pet ownership by organising regular dog training courses to help reduce the number of animals being abandoned because their owners are unable to handle them.

Ruby Leung has had her dog Nami for more than a year and has tried many options for dealing with her dog’s behavioural issues.

“The main problem is Nami will bark when there is someone walking outside or chatting outside my door,” she explained.

Working as a policewoman, Ms Leung was no stranger to tough situations. But Nami proved to be the toughest mission yet, as she refused to respond to her owner’s commands.

“She only loves my husband. I am just her slave to clean up all her things. So I hope that she loves me also and my recognition can be the same as my husband.”

Obedience training

Ms Leung decided to sign Nami up for a dog obedience training course held by the Agriculture, Fisheries & Conservation Department, in the hope that her cheeky canine would change her ways.

Through understanding the characteristics of different breeds and why they act a certain way, Ms Leung and other owners discovered how to effectively handle their dogs, especially around the rebellious age of 10 months old.

The classes also taught the owners not to let their precious pooches sleep on the bed.

From theory to practice, the dog owners learnt to take better care of their pets in just two days.

The dogs also learnt to socialise so they become less aggressive towards strangers.

Through the classes, Ms Leung realised her tone of voice was important when giving commands and rewarding Nami to encourage proper behaviour.

“After the lesson, I learnt about the thinking mode of the dogs, so I can understand what they think and understand why they will conduct that action like barking.

“At the command part, before we may be so rude and so harsh to her, and after the lesson, maybe I can give her the command softly.”

Animal welfare enhanced

The department is actively promoting the need to bear in mind the serious responsibility and commitment that go with pet keeping, and educating the public on how to be a responsible pet owner.

Its Animal Management (Development) Division Senior Veterinary Officer Mary Chow said: “Being a responsible pet owner can help to enhance animal welfare. It also helps to prevent the spread of zoonotic diseases.

“We also found the number of stray animals is reducing, so it shows that our public education and publicity promotion do help to increase the responsibility of pet owners.”

The Government attaches great importance to promoting and safeguarding animal welfare.

The Chief Executive’s 2018 Policy Address proposed amending animal welfare legislation.

The department will review the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Ordinance and introduce a positive duty of care on animal keepers, to protect the animals and prevent their suffering.

“A simple example is, if a dog is kept on a roof without any shelter and under sunshine and with no water, at the moment, if the dog's health condition is okay, it is not really suffering, then we cannot do anything.

“But in the future if there is the new legislation, we may come and contact the dog owner and ask him to move the dog from the roof to a place with shelter, give them water and we can issue an improvement notice and tell the owner what to do to prevent the dog from suffering,” said Ms Chow.

The Government is mapping out the major direction and drawing up preliminary proposals for a public consultation in early 2019.