Presentation of a dog-assisted therapeutic work in a library

Abstract

Based on my personality, occupation, but mostly on my previous experiences I truly believe in extraordinary motivational skills of animals that can be applied in all areas of our life. In 2016 upon request of a graduate student at the informatics-librarian programme at Eötvös Loránd University Faculty of Humanities I planned and implemented a dog-assisted therapeutic work for a group of pre-schoolers in Zoltán Csuka City Library, Érd. The most important helper and partner during the course of the work was my 2.5-year-old, trained female golden retriever, called Tequila. During my work not only the grounds of the high efficiency of the dog-assisted therapy, those of the course and follow-up of the therapeutical work have been established, but also its positive effects on the pre-school students and the beneficial effects of the interactions with animals, already proven by previous researches, have been justified.