Preparation and training of human dog teams in Dog Assisted Education and Therapy Erasmus Project

Project Title

Preparation and training of human dog teams in Dog Assisted Education and Therapy

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for vocational education and training

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Recognition, transparency, certification; Open and distance learning; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

Animal-assisted therapy and education, especially with dogs, becomes increasingly popular forms of support for those in need in Europe. Dogs support people with disabilities, seniors, children in schools, people in mental crises, prisoners, and there is a noticeable increase in this type of interventions in various facilities.
At the same time, there are no clear laws and regulations in any EU Member State that would ensure standardisation in this sector of work. Good practices are developed individually by each country. Some of them are based on the guidelines of the IAHAIO (an international umbrella organization that brings together institutions working on the basis of the relationship between people and animals). However, these guidelines are too general and each country has its own specificities and experiences. Western and Scandinavian countries have a greater knowledge of these standards, and there most human-dog teams follow the practices recommended by the IAHAIO. Central and Eastern European countries deviate from these standards. Our project has resulted in a product that is ready for implementation in various countries, with high quality confirmed by independent experts. Thanks to the conference and dissemination of the products, they have reached a significant number of recipients. Although there are still no legal solutions to unify the labour market, bottom-up movements are beginning to encourage recognition of one type of certification common to countries.

The aim of the project was to introduce greater transparency in the market for training and certification of AAI professionals in Europe. Organisations with relevant knowledge, experience and a significant position in the training market in their home countries were selected for the partnership. An additional advantage was the organization’s membership in the international umbrella organization- IAHAIO.
Project activities had lead to three project results: information brochure, handbook and blended-learning course.
The information brochure contains a diagnosis of the European market, with a detailed description of the partner countries and Estonia (partner in the first phase of the project). The brochure also contains a recommendation – a suggested training path for human-dog teams, ensuring a high quality of work and professional service.
The second result of the project is an interactive and a graphically encouraging handbook on professional dog assisted therapy and education. It is a compendium of knowledge for AAI professionals, rich in theoretical content, but also practical tips for training dogs or conducting interventions, as well as interactive materials – QR codes leading to videos presenting the content of the chapters. Illustrations, tables, highlights and graphics help to remember the most important content and make the handbook easier. The last result – the blended-learning course is high-quality training for professionals. The e-learning part consists of 11 lessons containing video lectures, instructional videos, expert interviews, quizzes and reading material for the student. The stationary part of the training took place in Poland and was a summary of the whole training – working with the handbook and e-learning.
The training camp was attended by 31 participants with dogs from three partner organizations. These were people working as therapists/teachers on a daily basis, who have had preliminary training in the area of AAI. The participants had certified dogs – according to the rules in each country. The camp made possible to compare the real level of training and expectations between countries and to put the recommendations proposed in the brochure into practice. It was also an opportunity to establish cooperation based on networking.

The results were tested on project participants. The participants had the opportunity to read the handbook. They took part in a training course: the online part which allowed to increase theoretical knowledge in an attractive and interactive way.
The stationary part of the training allowed an exchange of experiences between countries, comparison of different methods of working with a dog and a patient, familiarizing participants with the methods and guidelines developed in the project. It allowed certifying the first teams in Europe according to the uniform certification system proposed by the partnership. Participants disseminate results in their countries.

An international conference had been held in Warsaw in November 2019 and it was a summary of the project and aimed at disseminating its results.
It gathered 162 guests from Poland and 37 people from all over Europe (England, Austria, Bulgaria, Crete, the Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Slovakia, Switzerland, Sweden, Ukraine). The participants were very enthusiastic about the presented results and content – The conference also contributed to the establishment of new international partnerships.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 212965 Eur

Project Coordinator

Stowarzyszenie Zwierzeta Ludziom & Country: PL

Project Partners

• OPEN UNIVERSITEIT NEDERLAND
• NPO Estonian Association of Assistance and Therapy Dogs
• Dyrebar Omsorg AS