Starting the SKN

Today marked Simon and Baxter's first of 4 SKN (Sachkundenachweis- Obligitory dog owner course in Switzerland) practical courses. In 2010, Switzerland started enforcing new laws that that require dog owners to participate in theory and/or practical courses. New dog owners are supposed to take the theory course before they get their dog and the practical course is taken after the dog is 5 months old and/or within 1 year of obtaining your dog.

In essence, I think that these courses are a great step in curbing "cute" puppy buying on a whim and forcing people to really look at why they want a dog. Unfortunately, the new system, in my opinion, still contains quite a few flaws, but I'm hoping that changes will be made in the coming years. One of the biggest flaws I see now is the practical course. Every person owning a dog has to take the practical course for every new dog that they obtain. This means everyone, including breeders. Mind you that depending on the Canton that you live in, the maximum number of dogs is something like 2 per person or 2 per household. You can, of course, have more dogs, but I believe that needs a special permit.

Now, I understand the importance of having a hands on course for new dog owners and I think it is a very good idea, in theory. The problem is that the practical course is usually 4-6 lessons for no more than 1 hour at a time. The SKN instructors have a basic "outline" that they have to follow in terms of what they teach the people involved, but each instructor makes their own courses. When Simon did this course with Freddie 2 years ago he came home pissed off after one class because they spent the whole 45 minutes learning how to pet the dog, give it treats, and pick out the right grooming utensils. This would be fine if you had just obtained your dog or if this was tacked onto the theory course, but since you can't take your dog until it is at least 5 months old, we found it pointless. These are the types of things you learn right away if you have at least 1 competent dog person in your life. The dogs were not allowed to interact with each other either since they are all on leash and the trainer was very strict about dogs not even sniffing butts on her training ground. Needless to say, Simon was thrilled when he was finished with that course. 

Freddie was not impressed...

I was supposed to do the practical course with Baxter. I say "supposed to" because the Basel Veterinarians found that my previous dog ownership (our poodle and American Eskimo growing up and our 2 dackel now) were insufficient. Thus, I have to spend at least 5 hours of my time and quite a bit of money to sit through a theory course(of which I'm pretty sure I know everything they'll tell me). This would be ok, except that all of the trainers listed on the BVET website in Switzerland as English speaking, will not hold the class in English. Mind you, my German is ok, but my Swiss German is crap. They have all told me that I can sit in and ask questions after in English if I didn't understand or that Simon can come and sit in with me. Great. A waste of both of our time. Since Simon already took the theory course, he is now taking the little guy to the practical course.


Sorry about the rant. Back on topic. What I find annoying about this new Swiss system is that there is no course for experienced dog owners. Simon would have happily taken a SKN course set that was geared to returning dog owners. Better yet, I think that they should allow for people to skip the course all together if they can prove that they regularly train with their dogs. If you put in the time and money and effort to make your dog a good citizen, reward them for it!

As I said, the whole system is rather new and I'm sure that it will evolve with time, so we can only hope for the best. I'm sure that we will run into issues with this whole system again if we stay in Switzerland, but only time will tell.