Personality Assessment for Dogs in AAI (PADA) is a project responding to the needs of organisations working in the field of Animal Assisted Interventions (AAI) in Europe. Currently none of the European organisations use a thorough, reliable test, based on scientific grounds which allows evaluating the predispositions of dogs to work in AAI. This is a problem often brought up at conferences and panel discussions and professionals are still looking for a solution to it. Therefore, based on the knowledge and experience of our partners and research conducted in the project, a protocole of the PADA test will be developed, in order to become a universal tool for evaluating the personality of a dog to work in AAI. The main goal of this project is to create a standardized protocol of evaluation of dogs predispositions to work in AAI, based on scientific research. The protocole, aside from an extensive account of the scenarios of each applied exam, will include a theoretical part, summarizing the scientific grounds which allowed to develop the exams in their final form. Tools facilitating the work of an evaluator will be attached to the protocol, such as spreadsheet-based model for evaluation and grading, and a feedback template. Exams are aimed at verifying the personality of a dog and determining its ability to work in AAI. Since the correct evaluation of a dog's behaviour and signals sent by it, as well as drawing accurate conclusions, requires specialist knowledge, along with the exams protocole a blended-learning course will be developed. It will allow to operate the protocole efficiently and correctly evaluate the dog's behaviour, as well as explain how to make use of the evaluation spreadsheet and feedback template. The course is aimed at professionals - AAI workers and dog trainers - who, based on previous knowledge and experience, would like to acquire new occupational competences. The course eventuates in an exam for the certified evaluator of the PADA tests. The certificate will be uniform for all affiliative countries and ultimately applied by member organisations of IAHAIO. The project will begin with an exploratory phase, during which by observing the behaviour of 90 dogs (30 for each country) and repetitiveness of this behaviour in course of 6 months, an exam protocol will be developed. Afterwards the work on producing final outcomes will start, including finished exam protocole along with annexes and curriculum of the blended-learing course and course materials. After developing the final outcomes, a pilot phase will be conducted, during which 7 participants from each affiliate country will take part in training for evaluators. The training will be addressed to professionals, possessing minimum 3 years of experience in working with dogs. The pilot phase will allow to evaluate the outcomes, their clarity and practical utility. Participants will also s conduct an exam, verifying their knowledge and competences for evaluating dogs. On the basis of feedback from the participants there will be possibility of applying adjustments to the final resultats. The project will end with a final dissemination conference, envisioning the presence of 100 participants, including 70 from Poland and at least 30 from European countries. The conference will be aimed at professionals and representatives of organisations working in the field of AAI. The objective is to acquaint a wide range of receivers from various countries with resultats developed in the project and encourage them to implement this results in their organisations. The outcomes of the project will also be published on websites, through scientific articles on the project website and in an actively moderated Facebook group. Receivers of the promoting measures are primarily dogotherapeuts, organisations associating professionals and training dogs which support therapy and education. Due to scientific nature of the results, universities with the courses connected to therapy, education and animal behaviour, along with their employees and students, are also addressees of the dissemination of the outcomes.
Personality Assessment for Dogs in AAI (PADA) is a project that responded to the needs of dog therapy organizations in Europe. We have presented a reliable, science-based tool for testing dogs for work in dog therapy. The dissemination of the result has contributed to its increasing popularity and implementation in more and more countries. A scientifically based, standardised protocol for testing dogs for suitability to work in dog therapy has been developed. In addition to a comprehensive description of each test scenario used, the protocol includes a theoretical section summarising the scientific basis that allowed the tests to be developed in their final form. The protocol is accompanied by tools to facilitate the evaluator's work - a test evaluation sheet with detailed scores. The tests are designed to test the dog's personality and determine its suitability for work in AAI. As the correct assessment of a dog's behaviour, the interpretation of its signals and the drawing of appropriate conclusions require specialist knowledge, a blended-learning course has been developed together with the test protocol to enable the proficient use of the protocol, the correct interpretation of the dog's behaviour and to explain how to use the test evaluation sheet. The course is aimed at professionals - ethologists and dog trainers - who, building on previous experience and knowledge, wish to acquire new professional competencies. The course ends with an examination to become a certified PADA test evaluator. The certificate is uniform for all partner countries, and ultimately used by organizations around the world. The project started with a research phase during which, by observing the behaviour of 96 dogs (from three countries) and the repeatability of this behaviour over time (after 6 months) a testing protocol was developed. Then the final results were developed - the finished test protocol with appendices, blended-learning course curriculum and course materials. After the development of results, there was a pilot phase, during which 22 participants were trained as evaluators. The training was addressed to professionals with a minimum of 3 years of experience working with dogs. The pilot phase allowed us to evaluate the results, their transparency and usefulness. Participants also took exams to test their knowledge and competence in dog testing. Based on the feedback from participants we have made corrections in the final shape of the results. The project ended with an online dissemination conference attended by 180 people (including 97 from abroad). The participants were professionals and representatives of organizations working in the field of dog therapy. The aim of the conference was to inform a wide range of people from different countries about the results developed in the project and encourage them to implement them in their organizations. The results of the project are also disseminated on the websites of the organizations, on the project website, and in an actively moderated discussion group on Facebook. The recipients of the dissemination activities are primarily dog therapists, organizations that bring together professionals and train dogs to support therapy and education. Due to the scientific nature of the results, the dissemination is also addressed to universities (as well as employees and students of these institutions) with majors related to animal therapy, education or behaviour.