Answers you must know before thinking about bringing a dog into a facility where it is intended that it will play a role in the therapeutic/educational setting.
1.
Where will the dog be housed when you do not have the capacity to observe the interactions occurring between clients and dog?
2.
Have you identified all the entry/exit points to the building (For example under fences/ sensor operated doors etc)?
3.
How reliable is the dogs recall? What are the circumstances that you aware of that you know that your dog will not recall? What are you doing on a daily basis to ensure his/her recall maintains it’s reliability?
4.
What contingency plan do you have in place for when your dog is not acting as expected prior to the session /during the session? - (For example an alternate dog related activity to carry out with your client)
5.
What are three behaviours / changes in body language that your dog performs when it is mildly concerned about something (specific to this individual dog)?
6.
What are three behaviours / changes in body language that your dog performs when it is very concerned about something?
7.
What will you ask your dog to do (for example: lay on it’s mat) or give your dog to do (for example: work out how to get food out of a Kong) when talking to people and the dogs attention is not required and your attention needs to be elsewhere?
8.
What triggers your dog to become vocal?
9.
What actions prior to a session help your dog to act in the required way? (These may be different depending on each sessions goals, needs of the client). Being able to identify and create different arousal levels in your dog will ultimately lead to a higher likelihood of eliciting the desired outcomes.
10.
What training are you doing at home with you dog to counteract the behaviours it may develop? (For example: Snatching at food as generally children will draw their hands back as the dogs mouth comes towards their hand consequently teaching the dog that they either need to grab the food being handed to him/her quickly or follow the hand into the personal space of a person).
11.
What strategies work successfully in lowering your dogs arousal?
12.
Will your dog have an alias name to your clients when working?
13.
Have you identified the clients/staff in your facility that do not like dogs/are allergic? (Even if they are not the direct client they may still encounter the dog upon entry and exit). How will you prevent the dogs from interacting with these people?
14.
Is the dog allergic to any food? / Is the person allergic to any food that you may happen to be giving to the dog?
15.
Are the dogs, volunteers, your clients covered by insurance if something should go wrong?
16.
What new skills will you need to acquire to carry out your typical role with a dog present?
17.
What new behaviours/skills will the dog need to acquire before it is introduced to a therapy setting with a client?
18.
What resources will you have present during a session for a) the person b) the dog when either or both require redirecting?
19.
How will you know if your dog is not suited to this type of work?
20.
What strategies are you going to implement to ensure that the dog involved in your animal assisted intervention continues to enjoy and is calm during an intervention?
Where will the dog be housed when you do not have the capacity to observe the interactions occurring between clients and dog?
2.
Have you identified all the entry/exit points to the building (For example under fences/ sensor operated doors etc)?
3.
How reliable is the dogs recall? What are the circumstances that you aware of that you know that your dog will not recall? What are you doing on a daily basis to ensure his/her recall maintains it’s reliability?
4.
What contingency plan do you have in place for when your dog is not acting as expected prior to the session /during the session? - (For example an alternate dog related activity to carry out with your client)
5.
What are three behaviours / changes in body language that your dog performs when it is mildly concerned about something (specific to this individual dog)?
6.
What are three behaviours / changes in body language that your dog performs when it is very concerned about something?
7.
What will you ask your dog to do (for example: lay on it’s mat) or give your dog to do (for example: work out how to get food out of a Kong) when talking to people and the dogs attention is not required and your attention needs to be elsewhere?
8.
What triggers your dog to become vocal?
9.
What actions prior to a session help your dog to act in the required way? (These may be different depending on each sessions goals, needs of the client). Being able to identify and create different arousal levels in your dog will ultimately lead to a higher likelihood of eliciting the desired outcomes.
10.
What training are you doing at home with you dog to counteract the behaviours it may develop? (For example: Snatching at food as generally children will draw their hands back as the dogs mouth comes towards their hand consequently teaching the dog that they either need to grab the food being handed to him/her quickly or follow the hand into the personal space of a person).
11.
What strategies work successfully in lowering your dogs arousal?
12.
Will your dog have an alias name to your clients when working?
13.
Have you identified the clients/staff in your facility that do not like dogs/are allergic? (Even if they are not the direct client they may still encounter the dog upon entry and exit). How will you prevent the dogs from interacting with these people?
14.
Is the dog allergic to any food? / Is the person allergic to any food that you may happen to be giving to the dog?
15.
Are the dogs, volunteers, your clients covered by insurance if something should go wrong?
16.
What new skills will you need to acquire to carry out your typical role with a dog present?
17.
What new behaviours/skills will the dog need to acquire before it is introduced to a therapy setting with a client?
18.
What resources will you have present during a session for a) the person b) the dog when either or both require redirecting?
19.
How will you know if your dog is not suited to this type of work?
20.
What strategies are you going to implement to ensure that the dog involved in your animal assisted intervention continues to enjoy and is calm during an intervention?
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