Dogs Do Therapy

18/07/2025

Happy 6th Birthday Sam! He has brought so much joy and happiness over the last 6 years. He has helped- and continues to help - so many. 🌟❤️

07/07/2025

Sam waiting patiently to find the treats being hidden in this dog puzzle. These puzzles can be great to help clients work on their fine motor skills, co-ordination, memory, and attention goals (to name just a few!) The best bit, of course, is then watching Sam enjoy sniffing them out 😁.

13/06/2025

11/06/2025

Rachel, Callie and I were invited to attend the Bexley Unpaid Carers Event today. It was fantastic to meet carers, as well as representatives of some of the other services that are available to people with disabilities in Bexley.

01/06/2025

Sam and Rio did great work with patients on the Neuro Rehab Unit at The National Hospital for Neurology and neurosurgery. We helped patients work on their rehab goals, such as increasing movement in their arms and hands, improving their trunk control, increasing their ability to focus on a task and improving their speech.

23/12/2024

What a brilliant year we've had in 2024!

Thank you to all our clients for working so hard. Your determination and enthusiasm has been inspiring.

Someone said to me recently, "Sam is a hero" - he really is, and so are the other incredible dogs on our team. Thank you to all the therapy dogs at ‘Dogs Do Therapy’. They have brought so much joy whilst helping all our clients with their therapy goals.
Thank you to all our volunteers - we couldn't do it without you!

We have an exciting year ahead as we start our Animal-Assisted Activities service running alongside Animal-Assisted Therapy. This service will provide
informal, enjoyable interactions with the dogs, which is designed to promote physical, emotional, and social well-being. We will be offering this service for Care Homes, Day Centres, and Schools, for example.
I would like to welcome Lara to the team, who will be helping me to run this.

I am also excited to welcome 2 new dogs and their human companions to the team- Maddie and Custard, and Rachel and Callie. Come and meet them on our ‘Meet the Dogs’ page of our website www.dogsdotherapy.co.uk.

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Caroline x

An animal-assisted therapy harnessing the human-animal bond to change lives

17/10/2024

My 10 year old client drew this wonderful picture in our session with Sam today. I think she captured us all brilliantly. 🧡

15/05/2024

Headway South East London North West Kent

03/05/2024

Sam has been busy trying out some different dog puzzles. Dog puzzles are a great resource in Animal-Assisted Therapy as they can help clients work on:
• Memory - remembering instructions of how to layout the puzzle
• Attention - staying focussed on the task
• Upper limb rehab - bilateral task, dexterity, co-ordination, fine motor skills - placing the treats in the different sections of the puzzle
• Standing tolerance - preparing the puzzle in standing
• Balance - placing dog treats or puzzle parts in different places on a worktop, encouraging clients to reach in standing
• Trunk control - puzzle parts or treats are placed in different areas on work top. Client moves to the edge of their seat/ wheelchair and reaches for these
• Social interaction and team work - 2 people can work on setting up the puzzle together
• Improved mood - watching the dog work out how to find the treats they have hidden in the puzzle.

19/04/2024

Sam has been helping my young client with social interaction. Sam is great for this work as he loves to go up and greet all humans in a park, providing plenty of opportunity to interact with unfamiliar adults. In the presence of Sam, my client's anxiety is reduced, and his confidence is increased. Sam and other dogs in the park provide a common focus for interaction, which today helped my client to initiate a conversation with a dog walker - what a brilliant achievement!

23/03/2024

Katie, Rio and I were back on the Neuro Rehab Unit at The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery today. Rio was a big hit as usual amongst the patients and their families. Today we were doing individual sessions with 2 young adult patients. We were working on their therapy goals, which included improving their attention on a task, increasing movement of their arm and hand, increasing the volume of speech and improving their mood. These goals can all be accomplished with Animal-Assisted Therapy, and are a good demonstration of how varied clients' goals can be. Animal-Assisted Therapy can help with the 5 functional domains - physical health, cognitive function, communication, psychosocial aspects and emotional health.