Grantee Stories

The Power of Partnerships

This is the story of three AAF grantees and how they partner on programs that help develop positive (also pawsitive) human-animal connections.

"The human-animal bond is a mutually beneficial and dynamic relationship between people and other animals that is influenced by behaviors that are essential to the health and well-being of both. This includes, but is not limited to, emotional, psychological, and physical interactions for people, other animals, and the environment." Source: American Veterinary Medical Association

The Institute for Human-Animal Connection was founded at the University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work in 2006 to address the critically important relationships between animals and people. Multidisciplinary in focus, it is the first program of its kind within a human services academic setting. The program's mission is to provide an unbiased, academic setting in which to conduct research, training and education, technical assistance, and advocacy projects from a human service and animal welfare perspective, based on the values of resiliency, multiculturalism, critical thought, social justice, humane behavior, quality of life, and person/animal-in-environment. AAF provided an establishment grant. Learn more about the Institute at www.humananimalconnection.org/.

CBR Youth Connect works with troubled youth and provides them with the opportunity to develop their personal character, gain social skills, and receive benefits from specially designed programs and interactions with animals and humans. Successful animal therapy programs are a hallmark of CBR. In collaboration with Freedom Service Dogs (see below), CBR Youth Connect has established a program where youth work with dogs being accepted into the service dog program and teach them basic skills. Through this work, the youth develop relationships with the dogs and the other kids. Learn more about CBR YouthConnect at www.coloradoboysranch.org.

Freedom Service Dogs (FSD) is an Englewood-based program that custom-trains abandoned dogs to provide physically and developmentally disabled individuals with a greater independence and quality of life. FSD is a current AAF service grant recipient. Learn more about FSD at http://freedomservicedogs.org.

These three organizations have three very creative programs to share with you.

FSD partners with the Institute for Human-Animal Connection.

  • The Institute prepares students, professionals, community members, and programs to explore therapeutic applications of the human-animal bond. It is an unbiased academic setting in which to conduct research, training and education, technical assistance, and advocacy projects from a human-service and animal-welfare perspective.
  • Students in their second year of the social work curriculum can opt to enroll in Animal-Assisted Social Work (AASW), the only such program within a school of social work in the nation.
  • FSD matches each of the grad students with a dog, which they take home with them and use in their private practice or in other social work situations (e.g., counseling, foster care). The dog and student come to FSD weekly for a whole year for training. The students see dogs as ways to break down barriers between themselves and their patients/clients.
  • The October 2008 AASW class had eight graduates.


FSD also partners with CBR YouthConnect.

  • Teens, ages 11 to 17 are referred by Rocky Mountain Children's Law Center, Third Way Center, and Tetra Academy and then matched with former shelter dogs in a 12-week class led by a certified dog trainer.
  • The program is called Pawsitive Connections and gives teens and dogs the opportunity to learn the value of trust, respect, and friendship from one another, through training, playing, and caretaking activities.
  • The teen and the dog may even share histories of abuse and abandonment. And developing a bond is something neither may have felt before. The unconditional attention the teens get back from their dogs is healing to them.
  • One of the benefits to the teen is to learn that hard work can make good things happen. One of the benefits to the dog is progress in their service-dog training or their social skills for life as a pet. Both discover the importance of love and communication.
  • Pawsitive Connections was piloted in spring of 2008 with 60 teens graduating. It has now become an on-going program of both organizations.
  • Teens give positive feedback on the program: "She taught me to like her." "She helped me learn to pay attention at school, so now I know how the teacher feels." "I learned dogs get abandoned (too) and they have the same feelings as people do."
  • CBR did a three-year research project with Colorado State University to look at several aspects of animal-human bonding and how it can impact a troubled youth's ability to bond with other humans. The research found that caring for pets can improve the behavior and social interaction of severely troubled youth in a residential treatment setting. The study addressed whether participants in New Leash on Life (a CBR program that matches unwanted dogs from shelters with CBR YouthConnect youth who care and train them) showed changes in their levels of (1) positive social interactions; (2) appropriate self-disclosure; and (3) empathetic feelings - as compared to a control group of other CBR YC youth. The boys in the program demonstrated gains in positive social behavior, and developed significant attachment with the dogs they trained, even within the relatively short 10-week training course. This is among the first studies to directly LINKTM animal-assisted therapy to improved behavior of adolescents in residential treatment facilities.

FSD Partners with the Veteran's Administration.

  • Freedom Service Dogs initiated a program with the VA that is now expanding to VA hospitals nationwide.
  • Dogs adopted from animal shelters are trained and matched with wounded soldiers home from Iraq and Afghanistan to help them recover.
  • Through the "Wounded Warriors Program" FSD matches service dogs with soldiers to help them meet the physical and emotional challenges of recovery.
  • To learn more about this and other FSD programs, go to www.freedomservicedogs.org.

 


Animal Assistance Foundation commends the partnerships of these organizations and is proud to share this example of collaboration.