We’ve all heard of therapy dogs visiting children in hospitals, and elderly people in aged care, but what about therapy dogs in early learning centres?
Here at Inspired, we have enlisted the services of Louie, a cavoodle puppy, who will be supporting children and educators health and wellbeing, with fluffy cuddles, companionship, joy and learning.
Louie is currently 9 weeks old and has commenced her training to be a therapy dog, starting with obedience training and will move into official therapy dog training to receive his accreditation. Until then, Louie will continue to be a prominent family member at Inspired, meeting, sharing short play with the children for up to 15 minutes a time over 2 – 3 days per week, in preparation for his part-time position at Inspired.
Research shows that therapy dog programs provide significant benefits for children as the dogs are trained to use their social instincts and learned social skills to provide health, social-emotional and cognitive benefits. Being in contact with a therapy dog calms children, reducing feelings of anxiety and stress and promoting a sense of belonging in school. Our Inspired Therapy Dog will also provide social-emotional support to educators and the wider Inspired community, when and where appropriate.
We look forward to sharing their educational curriculum with our Inspired children and families.
