'Dog Friendly Clinic' is a membership scheme delivered by Dogs Trust and the British Veterinary Behaviour Association. Veterinary professionals and teams who join pledge to apply canine behavioural principles within practice, gaining access to dog behaviour CPD as one of many benefits.
Membership criteria centres around:
- the application of canine behavioural understanding within veterinary practice
- understanding body language and how to respond to help dogs feel safe
- applied low-stress handling techniques
- environmental modelling – within the scope of available resources and the individual’s role in practice
Once assessed as meeting the specified standard, successful applicants are invited to join, for an economical annual fee of £35/individual and from £100 for a clinic team of 5 staff, and issued with their ‘Dog Friendly’ certificate and badge. Clinic teams will also receive client-facing window-stickers, posters, and a weekly pre-populated social media post.
Member-benefits include:
- access to regularly updated bespoke canine behavioural CPD and resources
- becoming part of a behaviour-focused veterinary community, influencing positive cultural shift
To support the objective, we have created www.dogfriendlyclinic.org.uk a web-based resource hub for owners and veterinary teams. This currently sits on the Dogs Trust website and houses freely available information to support veterinary professionals in completing their applications and general approach to caring for dogs in practice. This material is freely available so that anyone working within veterinary practice may access and learn from it, whether they subsequently join Dog Friendly Clinic or not.
c/o Dogs Trust,
Clarissa Baldwin House,
17 Wakley Street,
London
EC1V 7RQ