ANIMAL WELFARE

IN ANIMAL ASSISTED
EDUCATION AND THERAPY

Zofia Pietruczuk & Gabriela Drwiega

Psi Usmiech Charity, Poland
CAN YOU SEE THE DIFFERENCE
IN ANIMAL WELFARE? HERE...
...HERE...
...HERE...
...AND HERE?
 Animal Assisted Activities (AAA)

1. provides opportunities for motivational, educational

benefits;
2. are delivered in a variety of environments by specially
trained professionals in association with animals that
meet specific criteria;
3. can be repeated with many people, unlike a therapy
program that is tailored to a particular person or medical
condition.
 Example of AAA
English lesson with dog assistance for kids
from 1 to 3 years old in the nursery provided by our charity.
 Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT)
1. goal-directed intervention in
which an animal that meets
specific criteria is an integral
part of the treatment process;
2. directed and/or delivered by a
health/human service
professional with specialized
expertise, and within the 4. designed to promote
scope of practice of their improvement in human
profession; physical, emotional, social,
3. provided in a variety of and/or cognitive functioning
settings and is individual in [cognitive functioning refers to
nature. This process is thinking and intellectual
documented and evaluated; skills].
 The qualities of good animal
assisted therapist or educator:

1. higher education in the field of health/human service;

2. knowledge about dogs, especially:
 behaviour,
dogs dieseses and probability of their transmission on
human,
 ways of comunication;
3. skills to plan classes or therapy sessions with dog
assistance.
 Where AAA and AAT
can be conducted?

 Educational institutions (nurseries,

kindergartens, schools);
 Hospitals;
 Homes for elderlies;
 Therapeutic centers.
 CALMING SIGNALS

Discovered and described

by Turid Rugaas from
Norway at the end of last
century.
 CALMING SIGNALS

It's a system of the body signals which dogs use to

comunicate with each other , to relieve stress, to calm
down the situation and to avoid conflicts.

There are over 30 described calming signals and the

number is still growing.

Calming signals that you can observe during AAA and

AAT sessions:
Lip licking
 Avoiding eye contact

By:
 head turning

back,
 eyes turning

back,
 eyes squinting.
Eyes turning back

http://www.pinger.pl/szukaj/po_tagu?t=dogoterapia
Yawning
Breathing hard

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVIaGt4G5Ec
Scientific researches
 Scientific researches

Scientific researches in the field of dog's stress in AAA and

AAT and injuries of internal organs are not finished.
Hovever this doesn't give a permission of not humanitarian
treatment the working dogs.
 THANK YOU :)

www.psiusmiech.pl
psiusmiech@gmail.com