Education
Daycare dogs can bring educational added value
A daycare dog can make a big difference. photo
© Monique Wüstenhagen/dpa-tmn
Rocky is a rarity: As one of the few daycare dogs in Bavaria, he started working in a kindergarten. There has been a nationwide trend for four-legged friends in daycare for several years.
For owner Luisa Fischer, the two-year-old male Labrador Rocky is a rare piece of gold, a permanent member of the family. For many children, the animal is an important part of their everyday life, a daily reason for joy. That’s not all: Even on an official level, the animal is something special, a rarity. The gray-brown dog has been working as a daycare dog at the municipal Heinrich Galm kindergarten in Memmingen for a few months.
Animal employees of this type have been used in individual daycare centers nationwide for several years. The path to get there is not that easy – and this is also the case for Luisa Fischer and her Rocky.
“I had the dream of having a daycare dog long before Rocky moved in with me,” says Fischer. The state-certified Educator wrote her thesis on animal-assisted pedagogy. The main focus is on what added value animals offer in childcare.
When Fischer took over the management of the Memmingen kindergarten two years ago, she began to realize her dream project. “The first step was to get the sponsor – the city – on board.” The 30-year-old developed an educational concept in which she described the benefits for her kindergarten children as well as everyday life with a dog.
The city covers part of the maintenance costs
And she was successful: “The concept convinced us. Where the resources are there, new things can be created,” says Bernhard Hölzle, head of the office for daycare centers in Memmingen. The city also covers 30 percent of the costs of keeping the four-legged friend. “He’s an employee,” says Hölzle.
He advocates being open to innovations as long as the requirements are met. And there are quite a few of those for a daycare dog: the animal also needs the green light from the veterinary office, health department and the facility’s insurance company in order to start working – provided the parents’ consent is given. “But we were lucky. In almost all cases, the parents responded positively to the suggestion,” says Fischer. She made the others an offer to switch to another group within the house.
Two years of acclimatization for the dog
“After all these hurdles have been overcome, it doesn’t mean that everything will work,” says Fischer. This depends on each animal individually – on how it reacts to children and noise or how it is trained. Fischer settled Rocky into kindergarten for two years and attended countless courses at dog school. The dog now comes to the facility on four days and completes two assignments lasting 45 minutes each working day.
In it, Fischer goes for a walk with his dog and children, plays in the garden or lets the children observe the animal’s behavior. “For the children who are not new to kindergarten, we also want to offer a dog license in the future so that they can learn more about Rocky,” says Fischer.
Fischer is just as convinced of the added value of animal-assisted pedagogy as Daniela Märkl. The teacher at the “Little Hands – Big Deeds” kindergarten in Poing, Upper Bavaria (Ebersberg district) also has a daycare dog, the four-year-old mini-Australian Sheppard Bjarki, and is sure: “Especially for children who don’t have animals at home a daycare dog is good. You learn to deal with the animal and react empathetically to it.”
Calming effect on children
Märkl’s dog has been on duty for four years. “I clearly observed that the animal has a calming effect on the children,” says the woman from Poinger, who had the same long journey as Fischer before Bjarki became a daycare dog. “Especially at the beginning it was difficult. There are no concrete guidelines, no uniformly prescribed path that you have to follow in order to raise a daycare dog.”
The Bavarian therefore had to attend a seminar on the topic of daycare dogs in Groß-Gerau, Hesse. “In other federal states we are already further along than here,” says the 25-year-old. For example, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony and Brandenburg there are institutions that offer special training.
In the same way, good experiences have already been had elsewhere. The city of Halle (Saale) in Saxony-Anhalt regularly uses dogs in two of its daycare centers. “Animal-assisted pedagogy uses the positive and unique effects of animals,” reports the daycare operator. Daily interaction with dogs strengthens children’s self-confidence and sense of responsibility. In addition, communication and motor skills would be promoted in a completely natural way.