Meeting to discuss compulsory pet training scheme
Malay Mail, 28 Oct 2005

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 28The Subang Jaya Municipal Council’s ruling that dog owners in the municipality must send their pets for training with the Malaysian Kennel Association (MKA) has not gone down well with Malaysians For Responsible Pet Ownership (MARPO).

Under the new regulation, to be implemented next year, the dogs will have to undergo a 10-week Canine Good Citizen course before licences are issued.

Owners will have to fork out at least RM100-RM200 for training, vaccination (RM30), licence (RM15) and membership with MKA (RM55).

MARPO protem committee president Dr Jon S. Satyamoorthy said it is the owners who should undergo compulsory training, instead of their pets.

There is no point having well-trained dogs, if their owners are irresponsible, he told a Press conference at Bangunan 3K in Subang Jaya yesterday.

Satyamoorthy said they are unhappy with the council’s decision to appoint MKA, a third party, to train the dogs.

"We also found out that some 4,500 names and addresses of owners have been given to MKA by MPSJ without their knowledge. This is a blatant violation of privacy by the council," he said.

MARPO secretary Joe Paul said it was better to educate the pet owners.

He said the council should focus on its enforcement activities, especially against unqualified ‘veterinarians’.