Canine assisted learning - advice needed!

[VeryGoodVeryNice]

I used to work with SEN children doing equine assisted learning - for those not familiar EAL involves confidence building activities and games with horses, and designing courses to follow, leading a horse, using metaphors to represent and work through things that students struggled with. Not all students had SEN, some had anxiety, depression, social anxiety etc…but most were ASD or ADHD.

Anyhow, I’ve had a bit of a potential brainwave, which is to set up a similar type of thing, but with dogs rather than horses. Canine assisted learning does exist but as far as I can see, only in terms of trained therapy dogs going into schools. I was thinking more of a club/group that offered similar activities to the kind of things I used to do with horses, and students would bring their own dogs to work with.

I was thinking for students who struggle in social situations, a group like this would be a fantastic place to build confidence and make friends, and they may find it easier to attend a group with their dog for support.

OR - just more generalized sessions, open to any kids, with more of a fun basic dog training, trick training, intro to agility type activities, rather than making it about SEN or kids who are struggling in some way, although obviously these children would also be very welcome!

I have a fantastic indoor venue, and a couple of great people keen to get involved (one is a teacher and one is very experienced dog trainer/agility trainer).

Would you as a parent be interested in sending your SEN child to classes like this? If so would you prefer general dog training activities or more working towards building confidence and social skills through more therapeutic type activities?

Many DC with additional needs would need 1:1 sessions, at least to start with.

If you are willing to deal with the bureaucracy associated with dealing with LAs, you could work with children and young people with EOTAS/EOTIS packages. You won’t be short of work that way.

There are APs who do this. Some work solely with dogs, some with a mixture of animals, including dogs. There are also ones who work with other animals. Some work with the child’s dog, some work with their own dogs.

Have a look at Changing Lives Through Dogs. Similar to the Changing Lives Through Horses provisions. Also look at Pawsitive Squad who work virtually, The Cotswold Project in Gloucestershire, Noah’s ART in Tameside, and Alternative Social Communication in Cambridgeshire.

It might also help you to look at Home Safari in Lancashire, Chloe’s Mobile Farm in Wiltshire, Animal Antiks in Buckinghamshire and Susan's Farm in Cumbria. They all have a range of animals, including dogs they use in their work. None are exactly what you describe, but all work with DC using dogs therapeutically.

Thank you, that’s amazingly helpful. Will do some more research 🧐