Welcome back Dee!

The Education Team at Dogs Trust is delighted to welcome back Deirdre Uí Dhubhda, our South East Education Officer, and her terrific trio of education dogs!

 

 

Deirdre and her fabulous canine crew have been working hard in the South East since 2012 educating young people about being a Responsible Dog Owner and staying safe with dogs,  and we're thrilled to have them back again! After a long break, we know Sadhbh and Cónán are already getting back into the swing of things visiting libraries along with Deirdre and getting lots of attention!

 

 

 

 

Deirdre tells us that she's really looking forward to getting back into the classroom for lots of new pawsitive experiences, and that Sadhbh, Cónán and Béibhinn are thrilled to be out of their temporary retirement to help her!

Deirdre is currently taking school bookings for the new school year, so if you're a school in the South East who would like a visit from Dogs Trust, you can contact Deirdre by email on Deirdre.UiDhubhda@dogstrust.ie, or by phone on 087 2695883. You can also contact the education team on education@dogstrust.ie , or visit our education website www.learnwithdogstrust.ie to see if there's an education officer in your area.
 

On the Scent of Clues @ Doggy Detectives!

Last Sunday, 16th August, the Education Team ran a fantastic Doggy Detectives event in our rehoming centre in Finglas. We were so excited about this event as we had added some new and exciting activities which we were just dying to see being carried out!
 

 

Ready for our Doggy Detectives!

Well, our little super sleuths didn't disappoint. We had about 30 people come along for the afternoon, and they all got a fantastic tour of the centre to start off our detective themed fun! On their tour our inspectors had to hunt out clues to find the answers to some responsible dog owner questions. They also had to keep their eyes peeled for some specific things around the centre, the most exciting of which started with 'P' and ended with 'uppies' .... they were even lucky enough to not just see some of our puppies, but to meet one too!
 

 

Getting ready for a behind the scenes tour...

 

After the excitement of the tour and a recap of the clues they found, it was time to move onto the investigations. In groups, our little detectives found out about some of a dogs senses- sight, hearing and smell. Each group got to carry out a little experiment to compare dogs senses to human senses and then they had to use what they found out to design a dog toy! We had some amazing designs and everyone got a little prize at the end, with our top 5 designs getting extra special prizes!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had such a great afternoon, so a big thanks to our Doggy Detectives! Roll on next year!

Farewell Fiona and Meg!

We have another goodbye to say this week in the Education Team. This time to the lovely Fiona R and her marvellous Meg, who have been our Education Team in the South East since August 2014. Fiona and Meg have done a fantastic job of educating the dog owners of tomorrow on the importance of being safe and sounds around hounds, and on what dogs need to stay healthy and happy, while Deirdre has been off on maternity leave.

The obligatory selfie!

This dynamic duo have met lots of fantastic people during their time at Dogs Trust, and we made sure to catch up with them before they finished up to find out what they enjoyed the most!

 
“I’ve made so many great memories over the last year. But my stand out memory is of Meg when she passed her assessment to bring her out in the schools, I was very excited on that day! I’ve had Meg since she was a puppy and I never dreamed that I’d have a chance to bring her to work with me every day.  I also  loved the excitement, enthusiasm and lovely welcome from the children when visiting their classrooms too!

It’s hard to pick one thing that I’ll miss the most! I’ll really miss EO team; I loved being a part of such an enthusiastic team! I’ll also miss my visits to the centre too for all the great events that took place over the last year too!”

 

“Meeting all the boys and girls in all the schools in the South East was the bests memorys! I couldn’t believes my luck when   Fiona brought me out for the first time! I gots soooooooo many rubs! I just I thoughts I must be the luckiest dog in Ireland! I also got to meet a Home and Away soap star too, lucky me, and luckys him too to meets me!

I miss all the attention I receive  froms all the boys and girls every day! I loved going out in the yellow Dogs Trust car, I’ll really miss my trips out in the car everys day!”

 

Fiona and Meg have promised to keep us up to date with their adventures, and we here in Dogs Trust wish them the very best of luck!

 

Fret not though South East, we have good news on the way in the next few weeks.... so stay tuned!



Goodbye Liadh.

Last week the Education Team had to say a fond farewell to our South West Education Officer, Liadh.

 

 

Liadh has been with Dogs Trust since 2010, visiting schools in the Cork, Kerry and Limerick areas. Initially accompanied by her lovely dog Molly, who retired last year, Liadh has spoken to hundreds of school children over the years, teaching them about being a Responsible Dog Owner, and about staying safe with dogs. Anyone who has been lucky enough to have had a visit from the lovely Liadh will agree with us that she has done an amazing job of passing on her passion for animal welfare to the next generation of dog owners.

 

 

Before she left, we asked Liadh what her favourite memory of her time with Dogs Trust was, and what she would miss the most:

“My favourite memory of my time with Dogs Trust is probably my very first visit to a school. It was South Hill National School in Limerick. I was so delighted to see how enthusiastic the children were and I remember thinking how great this was for them, and what a fab job it was going to be for me!

I think I will miss the Education Team the most. Floating ideas between us all, and the fun and enthusiasm of the team was something that I really enjoyed and will definitely miss.”

We hope you'll all join us in saying a big Thank You to Liadh for being such an amazing Education Officer over the last few years, and an even bigger GOOD LUCK on her new adventures!

 

 

There are lots of changes going on in the Education Team, including another goodbye, a welcome back, and a move....so keep an eye out on the blog in the next few weeks to find out all about them!