Looking back on a pawsome year! Our Education Highlights of 2014..

Happy New Year! What a year 2014 was! The Education Team were delighted to visit 377 schools and groups, where we gave a total of 1617 workshops speaking to 48500 young people! Phew!

We also were thrilled with our three Education Events held in our Rehoming Centre in Finglas. Tea & Tales, Doggy Detectives and Santa Paws were all great fun and we’re all looking forward to hosting them again this year, alongside a new Halloween event! Not to mention the success of our first campaign, ‘Scoop the Poop’ it was a busy year for the Education Team!

 

With that in mind, the Education Team at Dogs Trust thought that it would be nice to share with you our highlights of 2014, and what we’re all looking forward to in 2015!

Fiona (& Jake)
Dublin & Eastern Area

Fiona Simpson: “My favourite moment last year was meeting a child from a group with Down syndrome I had visited, who had difficulties with his speech.  I met him in the park on my weekend off, he came over, dragging his mum in tow, and asked if he could meet Jake through sign language (his mum helped me by translating what he said). He then used his safe hand as I’d shown him during my visit to his group and he gently pet Jake.  I thought it was incredible and very touching to see, and lovely to know that the children I visit remember how to meet dogs safely. I also enjoyed rolling out our new campaign ‘Scoop the Poop’ and collaborating on a bigger and better Santa event in the Rehoming Centre.

For 2015 – I look forward to a new Halloween event, another new campaign and a fun packed year in the schools ”

Liadh
South West Munster Area

Liadh Fitzgerald: “My highlight from 2014 was coming back from maternity leave and seeing how the education team had grown and matured. I love that we’re now putting our own stamp on the programme that originated in the UK, and creating new workshops to deliver to primary schools.

For 2015 - I’m looking forward to writing more science based workshops that we might role out in line with young scientist of the year!!” 

 

Dawn
Clare & South Connaught Area

 

Dawn Kavanagh: “My highlight of 2014 (other than joining the education team at Dogs Trust) was visiting my first schools after all my training. I was pretty nervous but quickly got into the swing of things. I also was chuffed to receive my very first Thank You cards- hand drawn by some of the lovely students at Bushypark National School in Galway. It was touching to see that the workshops had made an impact, and my thank you notes and cards all have pride of place in my office.

 For 2015 I’m looking forward to visiting even more schools, and hopefully during the year adopting a dog who will be my work buddy!”

 

Fiona
South East Area

Fiona Ryan: “My highlight would have to be my dog Meg passing her assessment to visit schools with me around the south eastJ. I really couldn’t wait for Meg to go out with me to schools and when she got the ok to go I was just delighted! Meg loves her new role and she is always excited to meet new pupils every day, she especially loves the extra attention she gets every day too. 

I’m looking forward to getting out an about into schools this year, and spreading the positive message about Responsible Dog Ownership!”

 

Meg
South East Area

Meg: “Best bits of 2014 for me? ALL OF IT! Rubs, attention, treats, meeting lots of little humans, getting lots of rides in the car with my human, being famous (I met a soap star you know!). 

What I’m looking forward to this year? Even more of the rubs, attention, treats, meeting lots of little humans, and getting lots of rides in the car with my human! I will be scheduling in more naps though.”

 

 

Jake
Dublin & Eastern Area

 

Jake: “My best moments from 2014? Hmmmm… that would have to be getting to show off my rugged handsomeness to all the young people Fiona brings me to see. They always remember me if I’ve met them before, and say hello to me before they do to Fiona, I think she’s used to it now.  I also get a lot of fan mail, which I let Fiona read to me J

In 2015 I’m looking forward to being the centre of attention as usual! And of course teaching young people about being Responsible Dog Owners.”

 

If you would like more information about our education programme, or about our Education Officers and the areas they cover, pop over to www.learnwithdogstrust.ie, where you can book FREE workshops, play games and look at some exciting lesson plans designed around the theme of Responsible Pet Ownership.

You can also email education@dogstrust.ie to book a FREE education workshop in your area.

Happy Holiday Hounds!

 

Hi everyones, Meg here! The humans wanted to write about keeping dogs like me safe at Christmas, but I thought 'who better to write it but me, an actual dog?' So I'm takings over this blog thingy this week to help other hounds stay happys this holiday! So here's my advice...

 

Visitors:

Not so long ago we had some scarys looking folk come to the house, they smelled just like peoples, but looked different, I think you call it Halween? Or somethings like that. Fiona made sure I had a 'Meg only' place when this happened as it was a little bit odd and confusings for me (hey, they smelled like normal peoples but looked all weird)! She said she's going to make sure I have a spot just like that over this Christmas whatchamacallit, because lots of other humans will be comings around. She said I've sniffed most of thems before, but having lots of different two legged animals comings round is exhausting! I get so tired entertainings them with my cuteness, and need a nice spot to snooze and put my paws up away from everyone else. Fiona will make sure that its a quiet cosy place with some nice cleans water and my favourite toys and blankets where no one will disturb me- just bliss!

 

Food:

You humans do get to eat some lovely smelling food, I've heard my peoples talk about mince pies, Christmas cake, Christmas pudding and chocolate. Now, I smelled all these things last year, and would have happily helped the humans eat them, but they hid them from me! I thought they were just being selfish - hey, I'd share my doggy biscuits with them! Fiona told me though that some stuffs in them are poisonous to dogs, I don't know what this poisons thing is, but it doesn't sounds good :( . She said that if I ate them, I'd have to go to the V-E-T, that's the vet, she thinks if she spells it I won't understand, but I'm a smart dog cookie! The vet jabbed me with somethings last time, and even though it didn't really hurt, I definitely don't want to go back! I might forgets that they're not goods for me though, so it's better that I can't gets at them at all! The humans said to say that these are some of the things thats is not goods for us dogs: raisins, grapes, onions, garlic, macadamia nuts, avocados, and chocolates.

 

 

Decorations:

This is a strange things to me, but my peoples have put a tree INSIDES the house! They have put lots of shiny things on it, and twinkly things that looks like the twinkles up in the sky at nights. I tried to tell them night twinkles and trees should be outsides, but they didn't listens to me! I had a good sniff of their twinkle tree to make sure it was clean, and then I lefts it alone. I'm a sensible dog - but some doggies aren't so sensibles and push over the trees, or even tries to eats the round shiny things! Fiona says this is bad, and so maybe their humans should make sure they cant reach the shiny things, or get tangles up in wires from the twinkles. There's also this thing called tinsel - and if we eat it, we would have to go to the VET agains!

There's some green things called  holly, mistletoe, and poinsettia plants which also has this poisons things so my peoples keep them away from me so I don't eats them by accident.

 

 

 

 

So lots of things for you humans to thinks about at Christmas! I'm sure you'll all make sures your dogs are just as safe as Fiona makes me! Ifs you ever worried that your doggy pals has eatens something he shouldn't, rings the vets, they can tells you what to do! Don't forgets you can make us a nice Christmas present like the humans showed you last week!

 

 

 

Merry Christmas everyone! The blog will be taking a break for the next two weeks, but we'll be back again in the New Year! :)

Dogs Trust's Homemade Christmas!

It’s almost Christmas, and if you’re anything like us you love to spoil your furry friend (even more!) at this time of year. So we’ve decided to show you some homemade gifts that you can make for your dog, in true Blue Peter style!

FEEDING MAT:

Dogs are not usually the neatest eaters so why not make an easy clean mat to place under your canine’s food bowl?

 

 

What you will need:

• Some paper with your chosen design on it- this can be wrapping paper, or make it even more personal by creating your own design with your dog’s name on it! The size of the paper will depend on the size of the food bowls!
• Some coloured card (needs to be slightly bigger than your design)
• Glue
• Stickyback plastic OR a laminator

Instructions:

Start by placing your dog food bowls over the paper with your design on it (see photo)

Once you know that you have the right sized paper you can stick it to the card so that it has a hard back- try to make it so that the card creates a border around your design J

You now have your basic mat – though it’s not waterproof yet! If you have some stickyback plastic (the kind you wrap school books with) you can neatly cover your new mat with this. If not, a  good laminator can do the same thing!

Once it's covered you're done! There are lots of different designs you can have, so be creative!

PLAITED ROPE TOY:

If your dog loves to play with toys, then this is the gift for him!

All you need is some old t-shirts or material!

Instructions: Cut/tear long strips from the pieces of material you have,  they don’t have to be done neatly and it doesn’t matter if they aren’t all the same size! Tie the strips together at the top using a short piece of material. Now you can plait these together, and when you’re done, tie them together at the bottom the same way you did the top! Instant rope toy!  If you want a bigger toy, use more strips!

TREAT TUBE:

Using an empty Pringles type tube you can make terrific storage for dog treats!

What you will need:

•  1 crisp tube
• Some paper to wrap the tube with (you can do your own design on plain paper, or use some left over wrapping paper)
• Sellotape
• Stickyback plastic (optional!)

Instructions:

 

 

Wrap your paper with your design around the tube, and sellotape it in place. If you have some extra paper at the bottom you can either cut it off neatly, or cut a few slits in it so you can fold it under the tube.

 

If you have a bit of the tube uncovered like here, cut a length of the same design, or something plain, and stick it over so the whole thing is now covered in paper!

 

 

If you want extra durability, wrap the tube in stickyback plastic, although careful to avoid air bubbles!
Once you're done, fill with your dogs favourite treats :)

 

 

So there you have it, 3 terrific presents for your dog that you can make yourself! Don't forget you can also make some tasty dog cookies with the recipe that we gave you back in September :), make them Christmassy by using Christmas cookie cutters instead of bones! 

 

 

 

 

Santa Paws is coming to town!

Sunday 14th December....put it in your diaries and come along to our Santa Paws event at Dogs Trust's rehoming centre in Dublin!

We're calling all little elves aged 5-12 to take part in our Elf Workshop where you'll get to help Santa give our dogs a magical Christmas!

You will:

• make stockings for some of our four legged residents, after all - everyone deserves a very Merry Christmas!
• design posters to promote Dogs Trust's message 'A Dog is for Life, not just for Christmas'
• get a tour of the rehoming corridor to see some of the dogs who will receive your wonderful stockings
• meet Santa and have your photo taken - he will also give all his little helpers a small gift for their hard work
• not forgetting a chance to learn how to safely meet education dog Jake!

Fancy dress is optional, and all this will take place between 10.30am and 12pm in our Rehoming Centre in Finglas. €10 per elf is required to book a place, which can be done via this link!

 

 

If you can't make it to the workshop, you can still meet Santa and his elves, have your photo taken and receive a small gift! Come along between 12.30 and 3pm to the Rehoming centre for your meet with Santa. The cost for this is €5 per child - booking is advisable, but not essential, and can be done through Dogs Trust's website here.

 

The Education Team can't wait to meet you all there! 

Dogs Trust Educates Together.

Students at Carrigaline Educate Together help launch
the new programme of lesson plans!

Last week Dogs Trust Education Officers Liadh and Fiona were delighted to be invited to Carrigaline Educate Together to the launch of a brand new animal welfare lesson programme. Along with Educate Together, the ISPCA and Veterinary Ireland, Dogs Trust were thrilled to be asked to help create these lessons, which are the first of their kind in primary schools in Ireland.

Education Officers Liadh and Fiona with Minister Coveney at the launch.

This new programme is designed to teach young people about pet care and responsibility in a fun and interactive way :) The lesson plans are available for anyone to download and use from our very own education website www.learnwithdogstrust.ie, they are also available on the websites of the other partners! So go on and have a look!



An example of one of the many lesson plans aimed
 to teach Responsible Pet Ownership


The Education team here at Dogs Trust hopes that these plans are a huge success, and has no doubt that they will be enjoyed by all the young people who get to use them!

 

 

Learn with Dogs Trust!

At the very start of our blogging career the Education Team told you about our very own education website, learnwithdogs.ie.  In the last few weeks the Dogs Trust's team has been beavering away, creating a brand spanking new website for us, with even more ideas, curriculum linked plans, and fun games for you to play with Jimmy 'n' Chew! With a new site comes a new address  and you can find our shiny new page at www.learnwithdogstrust.ie .



There are some fantastic new Educate Together lesson plans that Dogs Trust helped create alongside Educate Together, Veterinary Ireland, and the ISPCA, which focus on caring for animals, and animal welfare. As well as these, there are lots of curriculum-linked classroom teaching resources, with, of course, a dog theme! Not to mention two new games, which Education Officer Dawn is slightly addicted to already!

 

On the new page you can also check out who your local Education Officer is, book workshops, and find out a little more about the work of the Education Team.

 



So whether you are a teacher in search of exciting classroom resources or a young person in search of fun activities and games all about our furry friends,  www.learnwithdogstrust.ie is the site for you!

Where in the world....?

Dogs Trust’s Education Officers spend a lot of time travelling in our own areas, delivering fun, free and interactive workshops to Primary aged children, and you may have seen your local Officer driving by in their Dogs Trust car (give a big wave if you do!). As well as having the great job of visiting schools to deliver Dogs Trust’s messages, and teach the next generation of dog owners all about Responsible Dog Ownership, the Education Officers also get to see a lot of Ireland. We drive through some really lovely parts of the country, and sometimes can’t believe our luck that this is part of our job! (Of course it helps when the weather is on our side).

 

So, we decided that we’d give you all a sneak peek into where we go, and the range of places that we get to see on our travels. Here are some places that the Education Team have had the pleasure of seeing en route to their workshops over the last month, we hope you agree that they are stunning! J

If you would like to book a FREE Dogs Trust Educational Workshop in your area, contact education@dogstrust.ie.