Introducing Our Education & Outreach Activities

Hi! I’m Jim Hodgdon. My job with Pawsitive Teams as the Educational Outreach Coordinator is to put together and execute presentations describing Pawsitive Teams and the work that we do. Most of these presentations are solicited by requests on-line through our web site. Requests come from a variety of groups including elementary and middle school classes, Boy and Girl Scout troops, youth summer camps, and adult learning groups.

Our presentations are informational. We discuss the role and training of Service, Facility, and Therapy Dogs. When possible, we have dogs and handler teams representing each of these working dog classes. We point out the differences between our Pawsitive Teams goal-directed Therapy Dog program and the alternative “meet and greet” approach used widely by other organizations.

These presentations help spread the word about Pawsitive Teams and, most importantly, educate people about the dogs we work with in our three major programs and the assistance they can each provide. When needed, we tailor our presentation to help meet a group’s specific learning goals such as information about how animals help us in society for Scout badges.

The success of our Outreach presentations is dependent on our volunteer participation. I appreciate the help our teams have provided in the past and look forward to working with them in future presentations. At the recent community awareness event at Mesa Rim Climbing Gym nearby, 16 volunteers were present throughout the day, 13 of which were PT dog teams. Over the 5-hour event, we interacted with an estimated 640 people! Below are some fun photos, including the pupparazzi taking photos of some of our dogs.