2025. 05.14.-16. Study tour in Hungary
The next stage of our application was a visit from one of our Belgian partners’ trainers. We demonstrated the work of facility dogs and how we use them to raise awareness of the work of assistance dogs among people of all ages. A dog that assists a family raising a child with a physical or hearing impairment or an autistic child, or an autistic or depressed adult, is trained to pay attention to its owner and help only them. This can be demonstrated in schools and kindergartens, but it is a much greater experience for children to experience these assistance activities for themselves. This is precisely what we train our facility dogs to do, so that we can not only demonstrate the tasks of an assistance dog, but also show the many possibilities of four-legged assistance in a direct way, even with strangers. Our foundation has named these sessions “ASL” (Animal assited special lesson) and we are preparing a handbook, which we will publish at the end of the project. In the meantime, here are some pictures taken during the demonstration sessions with the vocational school students of the Pető Institute for Conductive Education Public Benefit Foundation, the Kecskemét EGYMI – Székhely 2nd grade class, and the @Szent Imre Catholic Elementary School 8th grade class. We would like to thank Kecskeméti TV for reporting on this in their KTV News and Highlights programs – you can find it in our posts on FB, and on our website. Bambi, assistance dog, and his owners, József Bratkó Privát and Ágota Bratkóné Földesi, Móni Korsós, Enikő Szokolné, Erika Kutasi, Nátán, Rozi, Ében, Bátor, and Bambika, our loyal four-legged companions, took part in the event.
The handbook for animal-assisted activities and ASL can be downloaded HERE: https://kutyavalegymosolyert.hu/alapitvany/manual-for-dog-assisted-activity/
