Juggling between a college degree, a flying career and a loved hobby, eighteen year old Prajwal Manandhar is a busy boy. Not only a student of Fine Arts and a photography enthusiast, he is also a professional dog trainer currently working at Vet for Your-Pet-the Animal’s Clinic. However, interestingly, he did not start his training with a dog as he had imagined but a rooster instead.

Having strict parents when it came to owning a pet, he had no dog as a pet, however, the family owned a rooster named Browny. This rooster became the subject of his experiments of training methods and as the time passed, he became assured of his skills. While surfing internet one day, he came across a quote “if you can train a chicken then you can train almost everything” which set a new dimension to his life. He then started training animals, experimenting training methods with dogs of his locality and at the later stage, his own dog. Although he has never taken professional dog training course, his instincts and experiments with his own methods are enough for his work. The key is to train the animals with positive reinforcement that is by rewarding them for good behavior which would lure them to repeat the behavior in future and with this method, he believes to train not only dogs but also other animals like cats and rabbits.

Manandhar believes that the most essential skill required for being a dog trainer is not a professional course but the ability of understanding the behavior and psychology of the dogs. Rather than being a commercial business, dog training is more focused on patience and perseverance and requires complete dedication. An avid audience of Animal Planet and Discovery Channel, he was inspired by the way of treatment to animals by late Steve Irwin and Jeff Corwin to work for the betterment of the animals.

Although a fan of dog trainer Cezar Milan, he does not favor his training method that is focused mainly on dominance and pack leadership. He believes that his dedication and knowledge are responsible for getting him the title of Nepali Dog Whisperer. He has also shared videos of his dog training tutorials and tricks performed by his boxer Tazmin on YouTube. He loves the loyalty, and silent company of the animals who do not pass criticisms and ask questions despite having refined and delicate feelings and he compares his addiction to the animals to the addiction of users towards drugs.

As a student, he does not train many dogs so that he could also concentrate in his studies but trains few dogs at a time. He does not prioritize money rather he is more active in social media like Facebook (Prazol’s Dog Training) and dog training tutorials (in Nepali) on YouTube. He spends most of the money made by dog training on his own dog and other pets. He believes that dog training is helpful in creating good bond between human and their dogs and also that it is a fun, challenging and rewarding activity.

He believes that the situation of stray dogs in Kathmandu has taken a better shape in present context with increasing adoption programs and also because of the rise in people working for the treatments and basic needs of the stray dogs. He is certain that if the activities are carried out by youths, more animals will find shelter and the situation will get better. This dog whisperer has a kind heart and understands the feelings of the animals better than any other mature human being. Also, his love for the animal has encouraged him to take dog training as a profession, even if it is at a slow pace in the present context.