Over the past 18 months, Victim Support Europe has led a unique European project funded by the European Justice Programme, which aims to train and place assistance dogs to work with vulnerable victims of crime on their journey to justice: Facility Dogs in Europe (FYDO).
On 5-6 May, the partners of the Facility Dogs Europe (FYDO) project met in Grosseto, Italy, for the second partner meeting of the project. While the first meeting took place online in December 2021, this second meeting was the occasion for the partners to meet in person, discuss the progress of the projects, the status of the different deliverables and discuss the next steps until the end of the project and beyond. On 3 and 4 May, the dog training associations partners of the project met to finalise the manual on dog training for Facility Dogs.
Partners present: Canisha, Hachiko, Handi’Chiens, Viaduq67, VSE, Dog4Life, University College of Cork
The meeting was hosted by Dog4Life. Colleagues from the Courthouse Dog Foundation in Seattle also joined the meeting and shared their insight on the practice in the US.
The project’s long-term vision is to train more dogs and handlers, to provide victims with access to canine support, and to ensure FYDO dogs have the right to access any location where their support is needed.
