Creative Space and Therapeutic Input from animals.
On Saturday 20th April Dig It Display Team met up with Visyon Creative Space Team at Knotlow Farm, Buxton to look at thetherapeutic element of working with animals.
13 young people from Creative Space steering group spent the day working with Dig It Dogs Display Team.
The day was split into two teams of young people for the morning and afternoon slots, working with the handlers and dogs 1:1. The dogs and handlers demonstrated running a course first before each person worked 1:1 with a young person, showing them how to work with each dog and how to run a dog over jumps and through tunnels.
The Demo team dogs are made of a selection of agility and obedience trained dogs at all levels, breeds and ages. The dogs are well socialised and have lots of experience of different handlers running them over agility obstacles.
Dog agility is a fun way of spending timewith your dog and learning new skills.
The young people had this to say about the day...
- Found it helped them to give clear instructions and communicate effectively to the dogs
- Felt relaxed if things didn’t go to plan and felt ok with trying again
- Felt happy, fun, relaxed, focussed on something else in a positive way
- 12 out of the 13 young people would do it again.
The Creative Space Team had this to say about the impact they felt it had on the young people...
- Staff also found it enjoyable and participated themselves.
- Young people who can struggle in teams and with adults found new confidence when working with the dog and the handler and were able to take the lead.
- A range of dog breeds and sizes as well as abilities really helped the young people gravitate to the right dog for them.
- Therapeutic value for helping with dog phobias as all the dogs and handlers have a relaxed way of being
The Demo team had a great day, and are looking forward to working with more young people to further evaluate this way of working in July.
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