School bullying is becoming more and more common in Spain, or at least the media coverage makes it seem more prevalent in educational centers.
Many organizations and educational centers are developing strategies to prevent and combat bullying. However, one association has decided to include dogs in education to eradicate this problem.
ARISTOPET has often spoken about the different therapies where dogs become a true medicine for people. They are capable of changing and helping to improve people's quality of life. On other occasions, we have discussed dog therapies for children with hyperactivity problems, and we even had the pleasure of speaking with dog therapies for children with hyperactivity problems, and we even had the pleasure of speaking with a mother and veterinarian who experienced it firsthand with her son.
What does the therapy consist of?
The Entrecanes Association carries out a project with dogs to help prevent bullying in classrooms. “The objective is to improve classroom coexistence, group cohesion, and work on aspects such as emotions, conflict resolution, and empathy,” explains Óscar Bueno, the organization's spokesperson in an interview with the newspaper El País.
As Óscar highlights, the idea of these workshops is to prevent bullying. To do this, they develop group dynamics where animals come into play. The dynamic focuses on teaching an activity to the animal, so the group of students must agree and make a group decision on how to carry it out. This is always observed by psychologists, teachers, and pedagogues to ensure the activity is carried out based on respect and the workshops' objectives.
Regarding the type of dog, the association states that there is no "specific dog prototype for these workshops. The element that differentiates a domestic dog from a therapy dog is its character and its management of external elements that can generate stress." They have Golden Retrievers, Labradors, Border Collies, or mixed-breed dogs from shelters. Ultimately, whether a dog is suitable or not for therapy depends on the canine education it receives.
Prevents bullying
These types of activities do not radically eliminate bullying; they aim to prevent it. Therefore, they cannot be practiced in groups where there has already been a case of school bullying.
These activities with dogs encourage children to manage and make decisions as a group, learning the values of teamwork. This association puts into practice dog-assisted education, which is a type of non-formal education that involves incorporating a dog into the teaching and learning process.
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