Dementia Family Dog

NEW service launching on 16/12/2020!

Dementia Family Dog service offers online guidance and support for families living with dementia who are considering getting, or already have, their own family pet dog. We are launching new information resources such as guidance booklets and online workshops for families who care for someone with a diagnosis. Professionals within the canine industry - such as dog rescue centres, trainers and vets – can also sign up  to our upcoming free information webinar to learn how to support families living with dementia and their onward journey with a pet dog. Click here to find out more.

Dog Day Events

Based at dementia community centres, Dog Days are fun group events bringing together people with dementia and their carers, with trained pet dogs and Dog Day volunteers. These monthly events encourage communication, positive reminiscence and joy as well as helping build social connections.

As part of this three year project we are working with different dementia partners to pilot Dog Day events in England (Gloucestershire, Hertfordshire, Oxfordshire) and Scotland (Stirling, Perth, Dundee, Helensburgh).  We will be evaluating how the events run in these test locations and hope to use this learning to roll Dog Days out further afield in the future.  

For more information on our Dog Day events please click here.

We are training up a special Dementia Dog family  to explore the practical, emotional and social ways that dogs can help people to live well alongside dementia - both at home and out and about in the community.
Both our assistance and community dog programmes are developed in close collaboration with the families and individuals we support. Delivering these outcomes takes a unique combination of skills and experience drawn from the founding partners; Alzheimer Scotland and Dogs for Good.

While small-scale, this 3 year pilot project aims to build evidence-based learning with the potential to replicate on a wider scale as funding becomes available.

Currently the dementia assistance dog programme only exists in Scotland and Australia, through our collaboration with Assistance Dogs Australia and HammondCare.