Events
At Paws for Progress, we actively participate in events that bring together practitioners and professionals from around the globe. Our focus is on sharing knowledge, expertise, and showcasing best practices in Animal-Assisted Interventions.
A highlight in January 2025 is our founder, Dr. Rebecca Leonardi, presenting at the All-Party Parliamentary Dog Advisory Welfare Group (APDAWG) at the Houses of Parliament. Dr. Leonardi will join a panel of experts to celebrate the profound power of the human-canine bond.
This event provides an excellent platform to spotlight interventions that create meaningful, mutual benefits for both people and dogs, reinforcing the importance of collaboration in human-animal interactions.
Research
Paws for Progress originated in 2011 at the PhD project of Dr Rebecca Leonardi, an ambitious project which involved a collaboration between the University of Stirling and the Scottish Prison Service. To ensure the continued sustainability and success of this ground breaking work, Paws for Progress became registered as a Community Interest Company in 2014. Naturally an evidence based approach remains a key aspect of our work.
At Paws for Progress we specialise in collecting and evaluating data to provide solid evidence on the impact that our services are having. This ensures that we are meeting the needs of our service users and enables us to continue enhancing our services. We work in close partnership with the University of Stirling to achieve this, and are very excited to collaborate with Stirling Human Animal Interaction Research (SHAIR) Centre.
We have carried out extensive research on our rescue dog training programme at HMP & YOI Polmont, and since 2017 have been disseminating our findings through the publication of research papers in peer reviewed journals.
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