Meet Maznah, the Muslim dog-trainer

Story via Free Malaysia Today:

It was five abandoned puppies that changed her life. And now Maznah believes that working with dogs is her calling.

Whenever she takes her dogs for a walk, she is bound to attract curious stares. And when she reveals that she is a part-time dog trainer, eyeballs pop out of their sockets.

This is because Maznah Mohd Yusof, 36, is a Malay-Muslim.

Hailing from Johor, the US-trained engineer said that her family never told her that dogs are “haram” (forbidden) for Muslims.

“There are different school of thoughts in Islam. Here, we follow the Shafie school of thought which does not say dog is haram but merely asks us to cleanse ourselves after touching a wet dog.”

Maznah, who holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering, said she never enjoyed working as an engineer and was searching for something more “satisfying”.

Maznah’s fate took a furry twist in late 2007 when she and her housemate stumbled upon five abandoned puppies at the car park in Queensbay Mall.

“Two of them looked almost lifeless, so we immediately took them to a nearby veterinarian. When they recovered, the veterinarian suggested that we deliver them to SPCA. But we were shocked when SPCA told us that it might put the puppies to sleep since they are too young to be taken care of. They were just two-weeks-old. That’s when we decided to look after them ourselves,” she said.

After moving to Rawang with her dogs in the same year, Maznah realised that for some strange reason, stray dogs were drawn to her house.

“Even those with dogs that are normally unfriendly to others, are surprised when their dogs are friendly with me. Then, I realised it was a sign that I should be working with dogs.”

She started by doing her own research on how to train dogs, gathering information from books and the Internet. “I learnt a lot from a book called Cesar’s Way penned by Mexican dog trainer Cesar Milan.”

On the training she provides, Maznah said that she is focused on basic obedience training and relationship building for now.

Based on her experience, Maznah believes that a dog is a “reflection” of its owner. “I knew one dog owner who was calm and patient. And these qualities rubbed off on his dog as well.”

Therefore, she added, it is vital for owners to spend time with their dogs to build a strong bond.

“I can say that it is the owner that needs the training rather than the dog. Owners must take responsibility to train the dogs, as trainers like me only come once a week. From there, owners need to follow up with the training to ensure the dogs get it. As I said, dogs like consistency.”

Read the full story here.

Did you know? At Paws Mission we have our very own story of how our Muslim friends are helping the canine community. A group of Malay-Muslim girls have come together to organise a fund-raising event in aid of our shelter as well as to educate the public on misconceptions about stray animals and raise awareness of their plight.

Wag 'n' Roll will be held this November, and will feature a stellar line-up of local musicians who believe in this cause, including Liyana Fizi (who just released her first solo album, Between the Lines, in August 2011), Atilia, COUPLE, and ROARM, as well as the verbal prowress of talented spoken-word poet Jamal Raslan and a special theatrical performance. Do support the event and find more info at the Facebook event page here.