It all started as a jokes. But William Amanda, a security guard attached to Security Group at Makindye could not stomach it anymore. His boss, Robert Muwonge, the manager for Vibes Production made jokes that ripped through Amanda’s heart, filling him with rage.
Amanda aimed his gun at Muwonge and pulled the trigger, killing him instantly. Alex Nkwanga, the Savannah Dog breeder and trainer director, says because of such cases many people have realised that dogs are a better option.
A dog will never betray you. It will do the job whole heartedly and cannot be bribed or take offence . And when you take it on, it becomes part of the family, he says.
For that reason, we have introduced four new breeds to cater for our customers increasing needs. The latest breeds are St. Bernard, Canary Island, Caucasian Mountain Dog and Leonberger.
Others are the Bulldog, English Mastiff, Rotweiller, German Shepherd, Bull Mastiff, Great Dane, Doberman, Black German Shepherd, BoerBoel, Pomeranian and Labrador.
Dogs are of two types, the working or security or military/police breed and pet dogs. Some of the pet dogs are Pomeranian (Maltese and Japanese spit). Generally, the life span of dogs is between 12 to 17 years, says Nkwanga.
Working dogs are used for guarding property, detecting explosives and narcotics, criminal scent discrimination and rescue. The Police in Naggalama, Mukono district recently used a sniffer dog to trace Salim Bakole, a witch doctor, and his young brother, Isaac Lubanga, in Namirembe village, Kyampisi sub-county who had made it a habit to excavate the remains (skeletons) of the dead from the graves.
Both had been suspected after digging out Venaali’s remains who had been buried in 2005. The dog was taken where the remains were excavated and sniffed its way to Bakole’s premises. Micheal Wapo, the Mukono police officer in-charge of the dog section says they are going to continue using dogs to solve cases.
Most clients have proved that they are cheaper and trust worthy. Depending on the dog species, the prices range between sh400,000 to sh500,000 for one dog, he says. Dogs require different attention in terms of feeding, playing space, type quality and volume of food. Many people ask me how much food I spend on my dogs. You must be able to feed a dog depending on its size.
Puppies should be given three meals daily. The first two meals should be in liquid or porridge form. The mature dogs take one meal a day preferably in the evening. The meal can include rice, maize flour (posho) and meat amounting to one kilogramme but it depends on the weight of the dog, he explains.
Nkwanga says in a week, three days are for posho and the rest rice. Minced meat is given on the daily basis. I give my 136 dogs 30kg of minced meat. On Sunday, dogs can have a meal with bones.
He recommends clients to buy dog’s food from reputable supermarkets or shops to avoid food poisoning. In case of drinking water, the mature dogs and younger ones are given two to three litres and 0.5 litres in 24 hours respectively.
It would be ideal for some breeds like Boerboel, African and English Mastiff to have four meals a week instead of the seven to keep their weight in check, he notes.
The dogs should be taken out for morning and evening walks everyday for 30 to 60 minutes to keep them fit. Puppies should exercise in puppy run.
We offer boarding services. Many expatriates, who come with their dogs, leave them with us when they are going for holidays or assignments. We also ship their dogs when they are leaving the country, says Nkwanga.
We train our dogs at the school. Currently, we are training six-month-old dogs at 10 residences. Dogs are given refresher courses every six months. Five of my employees handle working dogs and two handle pet dogs, he says. Nkwanga advises people aspiring to buy a dog to construct kennels measuring 1.5 sq. metres.
Kennels should have a wooden floor to provide warmth and should be raised from the ground 2ft for good ventilation.
The owner should do daily cleaning in the morning and evening. A dog is washed and groomed by combing, cutting and removing unwanted hair.
Savannah offers dog breeding, kennel boarding, giant pet shop, stud services and dog training.
The kennel boarding is a holiday resort for your dog. We have excellent boarding facilities. Each dog is housed in cool and comfortable individual kennels attended to by experienced and trained attendants, says Nkwanga.
Regular exercising of all boarding dogs is undertaken on bi-daily interactive walks. For those that enjoy car drives, they are driven out on weekends.
Savannah does customised feeding and all dogs are fed on fresh food. Since boarding pets usually come for a short duration, they do not change their diet.
