Usually, final year students in the Department of Pure and Applied Zoology, College of Biological Sciences (COLBIOS), pick any domestic animal of their choice and train, after which an exhibition is held to showcase effects of such training on the animal. This forms an assessment, as part of the requirements for the award of Bachelor’s Degree, for students in the Department. This course, Animal Behaviour (ZOO 466), is usually held in the second semester and is co-ordinated by a lecturer from the Department, Dr. Olufunmilayo Idowu.

Dr. Adeyinka Aladesida, one of the course lecturers, said students were expected to have acquired their chosen animal a year before taking the course. According to him, “They are first to consider domestic animals, that is, animals that could easily be given routine behavioural trainings”. Dr. Aladesida stated that some animals that are not very easy to manipulate and given specific trainings include rabbits that are not simple to command. He noted that such animals are slow in picking instructions. His words, “one needs to be innovative in the training you give to such animals. But for anim

als like dogs and cats, the kind of training they need do not require much sophistication apart from the sufficient time for the instructions to be easily picked up by the animals”. He disclosed that the essence of the course was to make the students understand some traits in animals, adding that they generally have attributes or traits they displayed, which are in-born while some are learnt or acquired from the environment. According to him, these traits constitute their behaviour, which can either be instinctive or accumulated, as different things contribute to animal behaviour. “A student of Zoology is expected to see an animal and see certain traits which an average person may not really understand anything about and he/she can also interpret such”, he noted.

Citing an example, Dr. Aladesida said “a few days ago, my neighbours said they saw an Alligator in my compound. I laughed because we don’t have alligators in Nigeria. I said, ‘describe what you saw’ and he said, ‘it was throwing out its tongue and it was very big’ and I told him that, ‘what you saw was a Monitor Lizard and it’s traits is that it throws its tongue, this way and that way, to feel the environment with it but it can’t harm someone unless it is caught in a corner’. He added that though his neighbours didn’t believe him, but he knows how to manipulate such an animal by understanding its behaviour, noting that the course was meant to inculcate such traits and learning on the students. On the handling of such a funny and interesting class, which requires tactical expertise to control, he said the students were like a workplace scenario, adding that the way you handle them would determine if one would either be in a friendly or hostile environment. According to him, “The students are even young enough to be one’s siblings or children. You have a kind of open door policy to allow them have access to you but you must also be firm to let them know that there is a limit to which you tolerate their jokes and other things”.

He stressed that there should be some level of liberalism on how one treats them so that they don’t feel estranged or see one as a god-figure that could not be approached. He, however, assured that subsequent Animal Shows would be more formal and well organised, to bring about enhanced publicity so that visitors can attend, participate and enjoy the fun, adding that the possibility of having collaboration with the College of Veterinary Medicine (COLVET) would also be worked out.

Corroborating him, Dr. Gabriel Adewumi, who teaches the Physiology aspect of the course, said that the course would make the students to understand animal behaviour better. He stated that the aspect is called Social Biology, adding that the student would not just understand animal alone. “The students will also understand how they behave. Peradventure, he/she would also understand the evolution of behaviour among living organisms, he noted. He added that since human beings would not be used on experimental basis on the stage, animals would mostly likely be used. According to him, “even in learning, there are certain behaviours that you can attenuate by doing certain things to that animal and this would also help one to know what could happen when one sees others misbehaving. Rather than being angry, one will be able to know, peradventure, this is what is going on with this person and one might want to handle that situation better”, Dr. Adewumi further stated.

In a related development, students of the College of Veterinary Medicine (COLVET), under the aegis of the Association of Veterinary Medical Students (AVMS), recently held its Annual Dog Show, to commemorate the Association’s week. The event, which featured over 40 dogs, was the first to be held at the Alabata campus of the University as previous ones were usually held at the temporary campus at Isale-Igbein. The main objective of the show was to bring dog breeders and pet lovers together, to showcase that dogs could be trained to carry out specific tasks, contrary to the general belief that dogs are wild animals.

A former Editor-in-Chief of Syrinx Magazine, a publication of the AVMS, Mr. Abiola Solanke, said that the Dog Show was aimed at creating a network among dog breeders and pet lovers. He added that dogs that participated at the show were Alsatians, Boer-Bulls, Caucasians, Chow-Chow, Cane-Corso, Pomeranians, among others. Mr. Olakunbi Ore-ofe, a former President of the Association, commended the University Management for approving the use of its facility for the show, adding that the show was one of the ways the Veterinary profession was being marketed to the public. Meanwhile, findings have revealed that dogs remain man’s best friends: for centuries, dogs have been referred to as man’s best friend and ally. This is understandable as dogs have over the years, proven themselves to be human being’s incredible friend by serving as pet, for security, as guide, as lifesaver and as a source of livelihood. The bond between dog and man dates back to 15,000 years when dogs, which originated from a common ancestor of wolves, followed man throughout his East Asian migration. Psychologically, this connection is real because both man and dog are social beings. Dogs have also shown, time and again, to be loyal, kind, understanding, and having an indomitable spirit. Whether as an assistant to a shepherd, a strong nose and swift feet for a hunter, eyes and ears for the blind and deaf, or simply a companion unlike any other, dogs help humans in their day-to-day tasks, many of which may not be possible without them. Dating back to the 16th century, dogs had served as service helpers for the blind and by the 1970′s, the trend of training dogs for people with disabilities flourished. As if that isn’t an all-encompassing task in itself, dogs also help to prevent possible crimes by saving lives, as found in drug-sniffing canines. German Shepherds, a 200-year old breed of dog, are also most commonly seen as working dogs who serve as canine police all around the world.