Pets As Therapy update
Our friends at Pets As Therapy (PAT) tell us how their superhero dogs and owners have still been making a difference during the last year of restrictions
It’s around this time of year we’d usually be announcing the PAT Dog of the Year. For several years Yours readers have voted in the annual competition celebrating the amazing work of Pets As Therapy. But, like so many things, this last year has been very different.
Since March 2020, the thousands of superdogs who normally look forward to spreading waggy-tailed joy in care homes, hospitals, schools and other settings up and down the country, have sadly had to hang up their little PAT Dogs jackets and stay at home because of the pandemic. With all in-person volunteering suspended and the cancellation of regular fundraising events that keep the charity going, Pets As Therapy CEO Deborah Dow says it’s been a tough year.
“Last May I really worried that we would be in trouble and we had to make some sad decisions to strip back the charity to its bare bones,” says Deborah. “But then in September we were lucky enough to win funding from the National Lottery to deliver our Read2Dogs scheme virtually which has been amazing.”
Read2Dogs is a project that allows children who lack confidence, or have different abilities such as ADHD or autism, to practise their reading skills by reading out loud to a therapy dog. This usually takes place in schools but since
“Our volunteers have just been amazing”
the scheme went virtual, Read2Dogs has seen dozens of dogs very cleverly logging in to video calls to support children practising their reading. “The children have seen big improvements in literacy and behaviour,” says Deborah.
Meanwhile, for the volunteer therapy dog owners delivering the sessions, it’s helped them feel connected to others.
“Many of our volunteers have had to shield and were experiencing loneliness so taking part in a video call with your dog helping a child to read has been really lovely for them.”
The scheme has proved so successful, the charity has since launched Write2Dogs where volunteers write a letter to children about what their therapy dog has been up to and the children write back.
It’s not just schoolchildren who have enjoyed the virtual benefits of therapy dogs. One volunteer who normally visits Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge has been offering patients virtual visits throughout the pandemic.
“Our volunteers have just been amazing,” says Deborah. And while normally the charity would recruit up to 900 new volunteers each year, they have still managed to take 200 new recruits onto their books.
As for the future, Deborah is cautiously optimistic about a return to normality soon and is determined that the charity, their volunteers and their little dogs will be raring to go as soon as they get the green light!