A special treat for man’s best friend

A pet lovers’ workshop, which includes a five-course meal for your dog

Most dog-lovers and pet-owners are all in favour of having some fun with their canine companions. Whether it is a walk down a twilit street or a game of catch, the bonding time spent with your pooch is incomparable. Now, Ishmeet Singh Chandiok of dog food brand Harley’s Corner has come up with a novel way for you to treat your furry friend to a morning of fun, games, great food and some pampering, with Wag this Way. The event will include a five-course meal for the dogs, fun games, demonstrations and talks on grooming and medical treatment. The event will act as a launch for a series of themed workshops designed to create awareness among pet-owners about how to take care of their pets. “The event is not restricted only to customers who own pets but also who are fond of pets as well,” assures Nevil Timbadia, one of the owners of Bonobo where the event is taking place.

“There is a rather interesting history behind the initiative,” says Ishmeet. “I adopted my dog, Harley, from a construction site and after a while, we realised that he likes home-cooked food better than the usual pellet-food you get for dogs. Thus Harley Corner was born. When I started to interact more with other pet owners, I realised how little they know about how to properly take care of their pets, the Wag this Way initiative was therefore born.” Ishmeet has prepared a meat-feast extravaganza for the dogs, which will include dishes like a homemade chicken broth with mince and herbs, a starter of sodium-free sausages, meat-based canapés and even a chicken mousse cake. A certified K-9 nutritionist, Ishmeet is quick to clarify that all the food is appropriate for dogs and contain no sodium, cream, butter or other ingredients that are considered harmful for dogs.

Ishmeet’s furry guests will get to work off their meal with a couple of fun games, designed by Tanya and Razvi, who are both certified pet trainers. “We want to teach owners how to train dogs to react well in public,” says Tanya, who intends to train the dogs attending, though these games. “ One of the games which we will be playing at one of the meets is a game of recall. The pet-parents will be asked to call their dogs to them and we will see how many actually respond. After that, we will see why they are not going back to the owner. It may be because the owner is not excited enough or that the reward for coming back is not good enough, so we work on that.” Tanya reveals that one of the workshops, which will follow this event, is going to be all about behavioural training. The dog-trainer reveals that the most common problems that pet-parents face are toilet training and teaching dogs how to behave around strangers. “These are some of the topics which we will be covering in the up-coming workshops,” she adds.

The dog owners will also get a free medical consultation and health tips by Dr Amrita Deb from Wildvets and pamper their dogs with a grooming session, which will be guided by specialist Pooja Advani.

The Wag this Way doggie brunch is taking place on July 31, 11 am onwards, at Bonobo, 2nd Floor, Kenilworth Mall, Phase 2, Off Linking Road, Bandra (W)