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History The charity was founded in 1988 by Frances Hay (1950–90) in Kenilworth, Warwickshire. This was as a result of Frances personal experience with her own pet dog helping Frances overcome her disability. Dogs for the Disabled trains registered assistance dogs to help people with disabilities live a more independent life. Their clients (people with a disability) have a wide range of disabilities from spinal injury to multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy and stroke. It was the first UK assistance dog charity to specifically train dogs to support the needs of children with physical disabilities. In 2007, the charity extended its services to train assistance dogs to support families with a child with autism. The charity is based in Banbury, Oxfordshire, with its own national training centre, including dedicated training kennels, and purpose-built residential accommodation for clients who attend a two-week course learning how to care for and work with their assistance dogs. Dogs for the Disabled receives no government funding and is supported by public donations, corporate support, legacies and grants Dogs are often sponsored by individuals and companies, the sponsors receive regular updates and photographs on the progress of their dog through puppyhood, training and partnership. Dogs normally enter the scheme as young golden retriever or Labrador puppies and live full time with volunteer socialisers until they are around 12 months old. The socialisers give the dogs basic obedience training with guidance from the charity’s specialist staff. During this period the dogs are allowed to visit public places and experience situations they will meet as a working assistance dog. To identify them as a ’puppy in training’ they wear distinctive green coats and lead flashes. The dogs are continually monitored for suitability, with the charity looking for calm confident dogs that want to work with people. At around twelve to fourteen months old, the puppy returns to the charity for intensive training lasting approximately 4–6 months. Dogs for the Disabled skilled trainers assess each dog for its temperament and skills before deciding which service they will be working in. Each assistance dog is trained to undertake a range of practical tasks, including opening and closing doors, retrieving items that may have been dropped or are out of reach, push access buttons outside shops or bark on command to raise the alarm when help is needed. An assistance dog for autism supports a family with a child affected by autism. Each dog acts as a continuous focus, enabling a child to remain calm in places they may have previously found too challenging. Towards the end of their training each dog is matched to a person on the charity’s waiting list, the dog’s skills and temperament are matched to the needs of their prospective client, so for example if a dog is to be matched to someone who has no movement on the right-hand side, the dog will be trained to only fetch and pass things to the person on the left-hand side. Following completion of a two-week residential course, both dog and client receive additional training in the home, before being assessed to become a fully registered assistance dog partnership. A qualified dog now changes coat colour again to a high-visibility yellow jacket. Partnership with an assistance dog offers far more than practical help they also provide pet therapy. Disability can have a profound effect on both the individual and their loved ones. Prior to partnership, many clients describe feelings of isolation, loss of confidence and lack of independence. An assistance dog becomes a social icebreaker, a reason to go out, giving a new found confidence that opens doors to fresh opportunities including friendships, hobbies, education and even careers. The charity is committed to financially supporting the dogs whilst in training, partnership, and when they are formally ’retired’ from working even if they continue to live in the clients household. Dogs which are retired and can no longer live with the clients or dogs that are withdrawn from the training programme, usually for reasons of temperament or underlying health issues, are offered for rehoming with carefully screened families. Dogs for the Disabled is a fully accredited member of Assistance Dogs International, the worldwide body that sets standards for and accredits the assistance dog movement. The charity is also an accredited member of Assistance Dogs UK. Members of both these organisations also work to improve understanding of assistance dogs amongst the public and to maintain and improve accessibility into public places for all assistance dog partnerships. Dogs for the Disabled’s chief executive, Peter Gorbing, has been President of Assistance Dogs International since 2007. Building on the experience of training assistance dogs for families with autistic children, Dogs for the Disabled helped form the PAWS poject ’Parents Autism Workshops and Support’ in 2010, working in partnership with the National Autistic Society and Lincoln University with funding from the National Lottery. The aim is to bring together the parents and carers of children with autism to share experiences in workshops exploring the helping potential that a pet dog might have within their family. The workshops, held all around the country, are designed to provide parents with the information and long-term support for sourcing, choosing, handling and training a pet dog specifically to benefit a child with autism and the family as a whole. Dogs trained via this scheme do not become accredited assistance dogs but still provide a massive beneficial impact. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia : Support and assistance to handicapped |
