See their history here. Over the last 30 years their offering has grown and they now also train dogs and handlers to provide animal assisted intervention in hospitals, schools and social care settings.
JM Finn have been proud sponsors of Dogs for Good for over 4 years now due to the range of issues that having a dog can support. Young or old, immobile or active, the training that Dogs for Good imparts can make a huge difference to people’s lives; whether as a Community Dog, which increasingly are being used to help suffers of dementia or as a Family Dog, which can help teach families of children with autism how to handle their pet dogs specifically to ease the pressures of autism. And in 2016, Dogs for Good was recognised for their work and were selected as one of the Times Newspaper’s charities to benefit from their Christmas Appeal.
Part of our partnership with the charity has included sponsoring dogs through their training and socialisation, which takes two years to complete. So far we have paired with three Labradors, ‘Finn’ and ‘Finley’ who have completed their training and have been placed with families. And most recently ‘Jessie’, who returned to Banbury on the 5th February to begin her basic training.
Early training takes approximately 16 weeks with Jessie being assessed 3 times over this period. She’ll be practising getting in, out and travelling in the charity vans, walking to heel and on a loose lead. All of the training is done through positive methods only with Jessie being rewarded for doing the right thing. The training will then develop her skills in retrieval, pull and push which are all important commands, particularly for those who have limited upper body strength and mobility. During this time Jessie will live with a volunteer temporary boarder in their family home, providing a consistent routine and also prepares her for living with her new client or family once qualified. We’re excited to see how she develops over this time.
We are continuing our partnership with the Charity and look forward to hearing more of the positive impact they are providing to adults, children and families.
