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animaltherapyireland@gmail.com
Registered Charity Number - 20103583
CHY- 22008
Welcome To Animal Therapy Ireland!
We Are A Charity Like No Other!
Watch Our Volunteers Stories And See For Yourself!

We Are A Bunch Of Volunteers Who Are Passionate About Animal Therapy 

We bring smiles and hope to elders in nursing homes and happiness and laughter to children in schools. We have over 30 active therapy teams and provide Animal Assisted Therapy to over 500 people a week!

There is a huge need for Animal Therapy and we are getting new requests all the time ! 
To have new volunteers ready after the pandemic we need to start recruiting them now, as the whole process takes some time!
therapy Dogs

We don't Want To Focus Only On Visiting Places. Our Dream Is To Create One Of A Kind
Animal Assisted Therapy Centre

Our biggest goal is to open an Animal Assisted Therapy Centre where anyone can come, and we are no longer limiting our services only to people in institutions we are visiting. A centre, where specialists like physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, psychologists and counselors would work alongside well-trained therapy animals. We want to create a wonderful, peaceful place where people can come, enjoy nature, and contact with animals, and most importantly receive the specialist care they need. 

We were nearly there...

We were so close to achieving our goal…. We were offered a piece of land to start our centre! First, we got two lovely miniature ponies and we spent all summer planning, building fences for the animals, obstacle courses for the children. Then finally we got bigger ponies for children to ride on and arranged for a baby alpaca to arrive, and then…. two weeks later circumstances have changed and we had to vacate the land!

We were absolutely devastated! We felt terrible because we had to move all animals to private stables and pay huge fees for them. Thankfully, we had a sponsor, that covered all the cost.
We felt even worse because nobody could visit our animals there. The private owner, like all of the others stable owners we contacted, would not allow people to come see our ponies... We felt like we were defeated and we were about to give up...

But we did not give up and kept on looking for a place for our ponies! Luckily 2 months before the covid-19 pandemic we were offered a piece of land by Fingal County Council! We still cannot invite people over, as it is a grazing arrangement only, but at least our costs are fraction of what we paid privately! We were truly fortunate to get this land, as the sponsor for our horses went out of business due to the coronavirus pandemic.….

And the struggles are far from over….

The land that we have is for 11 months only, until the beginning of December 2025. We will have to find somewhere to keep our ponies during December, while we reapply  to Fingal County Council again for land in 2026.  There is no guarantee that we will get the land back in January, that is how things work with conacre. 

After all we have been through, we realize that we need our own place, so we are no longer under a constant threat of our animals being homeless!

A place where our ponies will be safe - a forever home!
We ask you for small donation today, so we can build a better tomorrow for our ponies and people that need them!
We All Volunteer Our Time For Free!!!

 We are so grateful that we have bunch of amazing volunteers, that are willing to sacrifice their free time and work tirelessly to keep this amazing charity running!


As You Can See
The Needs Are Huge But We DO NOT  Charge For Our Services!
We believe charities should never charge those in need! All donations are voluntary. We will not put a price on our services, because we want it to be accessible and affordable for everyone! We do not  receive any government grant either, so....we are asking YOU for small donation to HELP US TO HELP more people who need Animal Assisted Therapy!

Check out some of the reviews and comments we get from places we visit!

It is with such joy that we have the privilege of working with Kinga and Carol and their beautiful dogs, but also on occasion kittens, hamsters, and a rabbit.
All the children in the school love having their time for Animal Therapy.
Children with Special Educational Needs are even more delighted, when it is their turn. Their faces light up when they see the dogs. The children become calm when brushing or stroking the dogs. The SEN children are energised and empowered when they give the dogs commands to follow, or take them for a walk on their leashes. Even the children who may be afraid of dogs at the beginning of the sessions, soon become less afraid and warm to the dogs. Children who find reading difficult, relax while reading to the dogs, and their fluency and understanding increases.
The children also learn how to take care of dogs and they learn to read the dog's body language, thus keeping them safe.
Kinga has been coming to the school for a few years now, and it is our hope that she will continue to do so. The Animal Therapy is an integral part of the Well-Being Programme, in the Social, Personal and Health Education Curriculum, at Swords Educate Together N.S.
Alice Hamilton, Assistant Principal and SPHE Coordinator, Swords Educate Together N.S.
Tara Winthrop Private Clinic is lucky to have three dogs with their owners visiting our residents. Angie with Gizmo, Siobhan with Bailey and Anna and Audrey with Ted. Our residents love those visits and miss them very much. Hopefully we will be able to have them back soon.
Iwetta Krzyzanowska, Activity Team, Tara Winthrop Private Clinic 
I'm very happy with the service provided for our clients from St.Vincent's Centre. The therapist is a nice lady and the dog is very well trained. She was coming to our centre for a year and everybody enjoyed the classes
Noemi Summer  Activity Team, St.Vincent's Centre
Therapy dogs are a wonderful resource for our children. Who doesn't enjoy an unconditional hug, even if it's the canine kind? Children enjoy the "down time" of a session with the dogs, a chance to sit, relax and pet the dogs. There is valuable learning too on how to care for dogs and how to approach and treat other people's dogs. They love the active learning games where they must work together and with the dogs playing key roles. Busy classrooms can be challenging at times and these dog therapy sessions provide a welcome respite for the children.
Fiona McKiernan, Class Teacher, SETNS
Kinga and her beautiful dogs worked with us in Seolta pre school for autism this year. The children love spending time with the dogs and completing activities with them. They gained so much from these experiences. I highly recommend this service.
Carolin Laoidheach, Class Teacher, Seolta unit at Skerries Educate Together N.S.

Our school dogs do a great job at teaching children all sort of skills!

We always try to engage children in educational tasks during our visits, it might be counting, spelling, reading - you name it!
All our school dogs absolutely love therapy visits, their tails starts wagging the second they see their owner putting on their Animal Therapy Ireland t-shirt - how do they know? Who knows! But they start to dance their dance of joy and howl with excitement!

Reksio

Reksio is one of our most experienced therapy dogs. He has been visiting schools since puppyhood :) He loves attention! His favourite game is "Reksio says" where he performs a trick and the children have to repeat it. So much fun!!

Ruby

Ruby with her owner Carol are working with Enya, Reksio and Kinga as part of 2 people 3 dogs visiting team in Swords Educate Together National School. Ruby absolutely loves her job and children love her too. She is our little Miss Mischief. What she loves the most is belly rubs and doing obstacle courses!

Enya

Enya is our oldest and longest working therapy dog. She is a 10 years old golden retriever. She has very gentle nature which makes her especially good with children that are fearful of dogs. She has visited number of schools and creches: Thornleigh, Swords and Skerries Educate Together to name but a few.

Ted

Ted with his owner Mary visits both schools and nursing homes. Ted is an absolute gentleman, who cherishes his cuddles and quality time on peoples knees!
His second favourite thing is fetching the ball and showing off his skills running obstacle courses with children
Your Donation Means A Lot!

Everyone who donates today can say:

"I just bought a garda vetting for one volunteer! And also helped with their insurance! Isn't that amazing?!"

or
"Thanks to my donation, some lonely residents in a nursing home will get a visit from a therapy dog every week!"

or
" I just sponsored a hoof trim for one of those cute therapy ponies! Sweeeeet!"

Every Euro Counts!
We Are Forever Gratefull
Your Donation Will Help Many People 
Many vulnerable people rely on our visiting teams. Therapy dogs lift their spirit, wet kisses bring happiness, and furry hugs warm feeling of being loved, accepted and important. Often it's the highlight of their entire day or sadly an entire week....

Thank you so much for making it possible!

- Animal Therapy Ireland team
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CHY- 22008, Registered Charity Number - 20103583
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