Welcome to the Underdog Training School!
Welcome!
Here you will learn all you need to begin your therapy dog volunteer journey.
We love that you have decided to become an Underdog therapy dog volunteer. Your role, and that of your furry partner, can be life-changing for some children. It is a role that holds a significant degree of responsibility and substantial reward. We hope that you enjoy your new role and we are delighted that you’ve decided to take the journey with Underdog International. Thank you.
Your training schedule
There are five core areas of training required to become a certified Underdog therapy dog volunteer, which include:
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Including safeguarding and understanding attachment theory and adverse childhood experiences.
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Including practical tips for your first school visit and building relationships with children.
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Including standards of behaviour expected and details of our core therapy dog policies.
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Looking for stress signals and understanding your dog’s body language.
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Our online dog behaviour training is a pioneering programme, uniquely designed to focus on therapy dogs working in schools. It provides you behaviour training for you and your dog as a team.
ABOUT UNDERDOG INTERNATIONAL
Underdog International is a global child and dog charity who run various initiatives based on the three core themes below. We also run the annual Great British Bark Off event and the Unity dog-walking project helping dog-owners in need. Find out how we change lives.
Therapy dogs in schools helping build confidence
Stray dog rescue and adoption programmes
Education projects helping children and dogs globally
Our motto ‘Children helping dogs. Dogs helping children’ epitomizes the work we do and our goal to positively impact one million children and dogs by 2025.