How are our dogs and handlers chosen?

Our dog handler teams have undergone a rigorous selection and training process, in line with international standards of best practices.

We pay special attention to matching beneficiaries with suitable dogs and their handlers. This may mean selecting smaller and mellower dogs for visiting with senior clients, or livelier and athletic dogs for youth clients.

Additionally, our dogs are:

Safe, friendly, well-socialised, comfortable and confident interacting with strangers and in new environments
Reliably toilet-trained
Screened and approved by veterinarians to be psychologically and physically healthy, and appropriate for animal-assisted interventions
Up to date on their vaccinations and parasite prevention treatments
Look and smell clean, and brushed before the session to reduce dander
Not on a raw meat diet to prevent the spread of Salmonella spp, Campylobacter spp, E. Coli spp, Listeria spp; etc
Re-credentialed on a biennial basis for their suitability to continue animal-assisted interventions

For more information on our accreditation process, please see https://aai.sg/becoming-an-aaisg-accredited team/

Our hygiene and infection control measures

At aaisg, we take a proactive approach to managing infection risks. Therefore, the majority of our infection control procedures stipulate measures for safeguarding the health of our handlers and their dogs before the day of the AAI session itself. Our hygiene and infection control protocols are updated regularly, and in compliance with international guidelines on animals in healthcare facilities e.g. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA).

These measures include:

Washing clients’ hands with soap and water/sanitizer before and after session
Ensuring all dog handlers are vaccinated against COVID-19

To minimise the risk of zoonoses transmission, we:

Exclude dogs on raw meat diets from our programme
Discourage dogs licking beneficiaries
Discourage beneficiaries from touching the noses and mouth of dogs
Prevent dogs from entering toilets and food preparation areas

Why don't you have cats or other animals in the programme?

Around the world, dogs are the species most frequently involved in animal-assisted interactions
because of their affinity with people and their resilience in unfamiliar situations. We are working
with dogs for a start, but our activities may involve other animals in the future.

Will the dogs lick me?

We discourage our dogs from licking participants as much as possible. We also discourage participants from touching the mouths and noses of our dogs. This is to protect everybody’s health and safety. For participants concerned with cleanliness, we offer hand wipes and sanitiser for your use.

Do you provide gloves and religious cleansing soap/ clothes spray?

Yes we do, please approach our staff for these items.

Will the dogs bark?

Some barking may occur because it is a natural behaviour for dogs, and is how they communicate with us. Just like people, sometimes our dogs express their excitement or happiness through vocalising. However, our handlers know how to prevent excessive barking.

Can I participate if I have allergies?

In the past, we have had people with mild allergies participate in activities after eating an antihistamine to control their symptoms. However, we do not recommend our activities to people with severe or uncontrolled allergies to animal fur and dander.

Are the dogs clean?

Our dogs are groomed before each visit to ensure that they look and smell good. They are also brushed before each visit to remove excessive fur and dander. Their nails are trimmed and rounded so as to prevent them from scratching skin. They are also reliably toilet-trained.