Plakolm & Ita: “Teaching the right way to deal with dogs from an early age” | Austrian Cynological Association

The ÖKV supports the holiday games in Lower Austria and contributes to a varied leisure program for children: On August 19th in Biedermannsdorf, everything focused on how to properly interact with dogs for 30 children between the ages of 6 and 15. Through exercises and demonstrations with trained dogs, the ÖKV provided information about behavior towards strange dogs, optimal keeping and care, and training with the animals. This included a demonstration with military dogs and puppies, where the children were able to ask questions of the handlers, demonstrating and practicing how to properly handle dogs on a leash, and plenty of time to play with the dogs. At the end they received goodie bags. State Secretary Claudia Plakolm and ÖKV President Philipp Ita took part in the holiday game and emphasized the enormous benefits of the offer for children and parents.

“Proper handling of dogs is extremely important. The holiday games in Lower Austria are an ideal opportunity to pass on important basics in a playful way and to show the tasks associated with keeping a dog. This is an important contribution to healthy dogs and animal welfare. “But it’s also about dealing with strange dogs in everyday life and how to avoid incorrect behavior, which benefits safe coexistence,” says ÖKV President Philipp Ita.

“Thank you very much for the great initiative. In my opinion, teaching young people how to deal with dogs of all sizes is very important. The more people have a safe way of dealing with animals and especially dogs, of course, the more peaceful coexistence will be,” said State Secretary Claudia Plakolm. “The holiday games in Lower Austria’s communities offer a supervised environment during the holiday season in which children can have fun, make new friends and play and learn in a community. They also offer important relief for working parents. At the same time, experts can use exercises to convey content that would be difficult or impossible to implement in school, but which is important for the children’s development. A big thank you.”