As we welcome the new decade, we look at two developments that can change our industry for the better in the coming years:
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CEN/TC452, the European standard on assistance dogs and
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L.E.A.D., the European-wide programme for training and qualifying assistance dog professionals.
EGDF is uniquely well-placed to play an active role in both projects because our broad membership represents both the providers and users of assistance dogs and our supporters include individual trainers and handlers.
Guide dogs have been around for a century -- since they were first trained to help veterans blinded during the First World War -- and other types of assistance dogs have developed over the fifty years since 1970. At the beginning of the European standards work in 2016 it was agreed that the term assistance dog covers dogs trained to help people who are blind, deaf, wheelchair-bound, diabetic, epileptic, autistic or have PTSD. Although there are separate guide dog organisations and assistance dog organisations, the boundaries overlap and we increasingly cooperate closely on common issues.
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