During our program the pupils participate on classes (maths, grammar, composition, etc.) with dogs on a weekly basis where they learn the necessary material during activities carried out in the presence or with the help of dogs. On P.E. classes they move around together with the dogs, they play games with them, they carry out tasks improving their movement coordination and concentration.
Parallel with the classes through extra-classroom activities – bulletin boards, drawing competitions, presentations – the basics of animal treatment and handling are internalized by the pupils. This way the necessary information about humane animal keeping is imparted and an emotional bond is created between child and dog.
Goals of the program
The first step towards the required attitude is the tackling of one’s eventual fear towards animals, especially dogs and building a trustful relationship with them. Parallel to that it has to be emphasized that not every dog is friendly, and trust does not mean that we can approach any dog without precaution.
It is very important to teach the basics of animal handling, the basic rules, what kids are allowed to do in their presence and what should be avoided. It is necessary to recognize that dogs are living beings, to acknowledge that they also feel pain, hunger, thirst, they can be happy or sad, they have physiological and psychological needs as we do and if these are not fulfilled they suffer. The final step of the process is the acceptance of the dog as a playmate, through which a relationship is established that ensures that kids consider the dog as a partner, as a friend, and treat him accordingly.
The basic condition of achieving the further goals of our program is to build up the above mentioned relationship between children and dogs and impart the basics of the required attitude. Having achieved this, we can use the emotional bond in a relevant field of children’s lives, namely, in education, in their attitude towards school, towards classes. The participation of dogs makes the classes more attractive, lend variety to the learning process. The presence of dogs, the activities carried out with them reduces eventual anxieties and creates a nonjudgmental environment for the children. The method reduces the frontal character of teaching by letting the dogs and kids move around in the classroom.
Main goal of the program is to ensure a new motivation for learning, for taking an active part during classes. For the dogs’ sake even less active kids want to participate in the classroom activities. It is also helpful for disciplinary problems as working with dogs requires a disciplined behaviour from the kids which gives additional motivation for children with such problems.
Using dogs in P.E. classes make kids like sports and games which has positive physiological effects, movement coordination can be improved, movement and concentration can be linked.
Summarizing the goals and possible effects of the program we hope that the children’s attitude, their way of thinking will undergo a significant change which will – apart from the affection towards animals and from the right animal handling –affect other areas of their lives, and they can make use of the self-confidence, motivation and acquired behavioural patterns in their future lives.
We started our experimental first semester in Dozsa Gyorgy Elementary School in Pilisjaszfalu in the 1 st and 3 d grades. Our experiences exceeded our expectations; the children’s enthusiasm surprised the teachers themselves. We have been using our dogs not only in P.E. classes but also in grammar, maths, composition and environmental classes. According to our experience pupils are more active and the material is ingrained more deeply. Kids otherwise being passive can be motivated through the participation of dogs.
Read the teacher’s commentary on the program.
See the pictures taken during sessions with dogs.
