Delta Society Australia is a national not for profit organisation whose mission is to promote and facilitate positive interaction between people and companion animals. Delta operates with one core belief: that the human animal bond can overcome anything. The Delta Society’s work focuses on using that bond to comfort the sick in hospitals and aged care facilities, develop more confident children, teach children about dog safety, and promote reward based training methods to develop happy and contented pets. Currently, Delta delivers on its mission and vision through four core activities: • The Delta Therapy Dogs program • The Delta Dog Safe program • The Delta Classroom Canines program • The Certificate IV in Companion Animal Services - Canine Good Citizen Service type (E.g. aged care, youth, environment, arts etc): Delta Therapy Dogs is a heartwarming program that brings the joy of animal companionship to those who need it most. We are the largest provider of dog therapy in Australia with 14 State Therapy Dog branches and over 1,000 volunteers. Companion animals bring joy to the lives of twelve million Australians and now there is evidence they are also literally good for your health and well-being! Through our world class Therapy Dogs program, the Delta Society aims to bring these benefits to the sick and infirm – children and adults who are in hospitals and nursing homes around Australia. We recruit and train suitable volunteers and their beloved pet dogs to become dedicated Therapy Dog Teams. The Delta volunteer and their adorable four-legged friends are then assigned a facility where they make weekly visits to spend time with residents and offer a chat, a floppy ear to listen and paw to shake. There are currently over 650 facilities involved nationally ranging from aged care through to acute care hospitals for children and adults as well mental health, prisons and dementia specific facilities. THE DELTA DOG SAFE PROGRAM Delta Dog Safe™ teaches positive, proactive ways to behave around dogs, to reduce the incidence of dog bites in children. The program is conducted statewide in Tasmania and is funded by the state government. It is estimated that each year dogs bite more than 100,000 Australians with varying degrees of severity. Most bites occur because neither adults nor children have been educated about appropriate behaviour around dogs or how to read dogs’ body language. Two out of every three bites involve the family, neighbour or friend's pet dog 'in the backyard' and almost 50% of all serious bites occurring in children under ten years. Aimed at 5 to 8 year old children, their parents and local communities, Delta Dog Safe was designed by the Delta Society as a public health initiative to teach safe and sensible behaviour around dogs – both family pets and stray or street dogs. Volunteers are recruited and trained to present ‘dog friendly’ school and parent education programs including how to read dogs’ body language, how to react in certain situations and how to safely greet and play with dogs. THE DELTA CLASSROOM CANINES PROGRAM Classroom Canines is a program aimed at improving children’s confidence, health and well-being by providing schools with a powerful additional learning tool to encourage the overall development of a student. Using our specially trained volunteers and their incredibly attentive and loyal dogs, the Delta Classroom Canines program has a specific focus on assisting children to improve their literacy skills. The program concentrates on children that have difficulties with reading but are not able to be a part of the Reading Recovery program. Our volunteer visits their allocated school weekly at a time that coincides with the student’s lessons on reading and works either with an individual child or in a group environment. This allows the volunteer and their pooch to build trust and relationships with their charges. With no judgement and plenty of attention from the dog and their volunteer, children who have participated in this program have shown a desire to improve their reading, so they can come back and show their new four legged friend how much better they can do.