A group of playful, four-legged pups spent the day with our young people who are now certain they want a career working with animals.
The Skills Academy invited Paws for Progress to deliver its interactive Personal Development Programme. The dog-assisted learning programme seemed the right fit for youngsters preparing to enter the world of work. The experience brought a confidence boost and reset to students busy navigating application forms, going for interviews and starting a new job. During the session, young people were so focused and concentrated on bonding with the animals that they didn’t realise how much they were learning and could apply to their job search.
Paws for Progress tailored lessons to the group, designing the class around animal-related careers, as our academy students were in the middle of deciding what career or industry they’d like to pursue.
The session helped young people understand how dogs think and how that knowledge can lead to meaningful work in the real world. Topics included dog communication, how dogs learn and caring for dogs. Along with engaging activities such as dog sports, scent work, canine first aid, assistance dog training and exploring animal-related careers.
Young people thoroughly enjoyed spending time with the animals. Highlights included designing obstacle courses, learning how dogs use their sense of smell in working roles, practising canine first aid with stuffed dogs and understanding the tasks performed by assistance dogs.
Now, it’s time to work towards waking up everyday in a rewarding job role that involves caring for animals. The students were delighted to receive a certificate from Paws for Progress to add to their CV, marking their experience.