Wave, Tweety and Tato. These are some of the dogs wagging their tails around the Bollate prison. Because it is precisely here that a course for professional dog sitter operators takes place, conceived and designed specifically for people subjected to restrictive measures of personal freedom
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him
Wave, Tweety and Tato. They are some of the dogs that wag their tails for the Bollate prison. Because a course for professional dog-sitters specially conceived and designed for people subjected to measures restricting personal freedom.
At the end of the course, inmates will obtain a technical card and national certification from CSEN - the National Educational Sports Center and will be able to carry out activities independently, such as dog sitter, dog walker e dogdaycare.
It is a original and noble project included in the recreational-cultural offer aimed at people in criminal execution, which takes place on a weekly basis, both in the women's section and in the men's section. Organized and coordinated by DIVET of the State University of Milan, it combines the goal of re-education, cultural growth and social and work reintegration of prisoners with that of rrecovery and adoptability of stray dogs housed in kennels.
The course will be structured on an innovative model of EAA - Animal assisted education professionally qualifying and in line with the provisions of national guidelines on animal assisted interventions (IAA). In addition to conferring on the students the techniques and professionalism of operators in the pet care branch, the course will also constitute a real experience of pet therapy, a type of activity already in progress in Bollate under the supervision of the non-profit organization Cani Dentro.
After the training phase, we will move on to creating a operational network aimed at facilitating the recruitment of inmates authorized for external work on farms and pet care. The benefits are also there for the dogs involved in the surgery, which will be ex-stray guests in kennels or shelters, previously subjected to re-education and socialization courses by specialized personnel.
This type of work, the acquisition of the aptitudes required by pet therapy will represent for these dogs a further opportunity for socialization and a positive relationship with humans, significantly favoring their chances of being adopted and welcomed into the family.
“Despite the presence of pet therapy activities is a fairly widespread fact, the sector working of pet care it is still very little proposed in prisons - observes Federica Pirrone, researcher at the State University and head of the Project - it instead adapts very well to the prison reality, because it includes activities that require an assumption of responsibility on the part of the person and therefore are important from the point of view view of the treatment; it also interests professionals highly sought after by the market ".
But how did the inmates react? The meeting with the animals, says the association Cani Inside, immediately aroused interest and curiosity, also because some participants own dogs and animals in general and the possibility of having a direct contact with the dog it allows them, on the one hand, to pick up the thread of an affectivity suddenly, and forcibly interrupted, and, on the other, to return, albeit virtually and for a short period of time, to freedom. The results are so positive and encouraging that we can only hope that it will come extended to all detention facilities ...
Roberta Ragni
Photo Credit @CANI DENTRO Onlus
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