Our therapy dog – Lottie
Our resident therapy dog is called Lottie. Lottie is a Labrador x golden retriever and is 10 months old. Lottie is fabulous at her job, she is so gentle and quiet with our young people, she supports them to learn and develop in so many ways. Lottie Provides companionship and emotional support to our young people and everyone who meets her loves her.
Enhancing social skills
Research shows that dogs can make a huge difference to a young persons emotional well-being and physical independence. Therapy dogs are proved to enhance social skills by responding to a persons input, they can help build self-esteem and encourage responsibility. They can also help to manage mood related challenges and anxiety. Therapy dogs can help to model appropriate behaviours, for instance dogs can actually show young people how to appropriately relax in bed, respond to requests, etc. which makes them great motivators and role models.