Innovation: Dogs Help Healing Foundation
Germany
AAI Domains:
Participation in society (voluntary activities)
Independent, healthy and secure living (care to older adults and children, physical exercise, mental well-being)
There is emerging evidence that people’s well-being improves following interaction with a pet, usually a dog, due to the bonds that humans and domesticated animals have developed over thousands of years. Dogs can provide affection, interaction and comfort that people of all ages respond positively to but it may not be practical for some people to keep a pet dog. Older people who enter long-term institutional care are rarely able to keep a pet while many families do not have a pet dog due to their housing situation or personal preference.
The Dogs Help Healing Foundation was established by Helmut Lindner to promote awareness and support the use of therapy dogs with people of all ages. The Foundation provides training and support to volunteers with pet dogs to take their pet to interact with three main groups of people. Older people in long-term institutional care, including people with dementia, have benefited from regular visits by a volunteer with their dog as it provides an enjoyable and stimulating activity that can be the highlight of the day or even the week.
Young children in schools can also benefit from a visit by the ‘school dog’ as it can contribute to their social development, enhance communication between students and develop confidence by enriching school life. People with physical and mental disabilities who attend rehabilitation centres can also benefit from regular interaction with a dog as it encourages the development of fine motor skills, calms and soothes, improves their emotional mood, can reduce behavioural problems and builds confidence.
The Foundation is in the process of scaling up across Munich and Bavaria and works with a range of partners including the ASPCA (voluntary society for animals) in Munich, the MAK Children Foundation, the Schunemann Foundation and Therapy for Dogs Franconia. It has celebrity ambassadors who endorse the work of the Foundations and it was recognised as a social project with considerable promise by the Office of the Chancellor’s awards programme in 2013. The Foundation is still operating on a relatively small scale and relies on donations from charitable foundations and the general public as well as the commitment of volunteers with dogs to make the project operate successfully.
In relation to active ageing, the Foundation’s work promotes voluntary activity among dog owners who share their pet with young children, people with disabilities and older people. The notion of the dog as a co-therapist with four paws is providing a form of care to children and older adults is the basis for the work of the Foundation. Visits by therapy dogs can also promote physical exercise as walking the dog and talking with the volunteer are part of the programme and this should contribute to mental well-being.
Although this social innovation is operating on a relatively modest scale there are other examples of similar projects operating in other European states demonstrating that it is a transferable concept that can benefit people across the age spectrum.