Launching a new support pathway for Dementia Dog

For over 10 years, Dogs for Good and Alzheimer Scotland have worked together to support people living with dementia through the Dementia Dog partnership.

Through Dementia Dog, we saw every day all the extraordinary ways dogs can help to make life possible for those living with dementia, as well as their families and carers. While the website and social media channels for Dementia Dog are now closed, our collaboration with Alzheimer Scotland continues.

In place of the Dementia Dog website, you can now use the Dogs for Good website to find more information about the support we provide people living with dementia. You can find details on:

• Our Family Dog programme, which gives families practical tools, resources and guidance to strengthen their relationship with a pet dog, and understand how this can translate into emotional and practical support for someone living with dementia
• The work we do within dementia services, community groups and care settings. By bringing our dogs into community settings, we create safe, welcoming spaces for interaction with dogs – offering meaningful moments of joy and engagement
• Our dementia assistance dog partnerships, where our specially trained assistance dogs are partnered with individuals living with dementia and their care partner

All the services we offer are unique. We tailor our support to each person or group by first understanding their needs and goals. Alzheimer Scotland shares this person-centred approach, and our continued collaboration with them is based on these shared values. With Alzheimer Scotland, we believe that a diagnosis of dementia does not define a person. Everyone has strengths, relationships and aspirations that deserve to be recognised and supported.

The Dementia Dog project shows what’s possible when you bring together Dogs for Good’s expertise in training highly skilled assistance and community dogs, with Alzheimer Scotland’s expertise in dementia care, brain health, and specialist support. We are deeply grateful to everyone who has been part of this work to date – the people and families who have welcomed dogs into their lives, our dedicated colleagues and volunteers, and our partners at Alzheimer Scotland.

We’ll continue to build on the legacy of the Dementia Dog programme to bring connections with a dog to people living with dementia in Scotland and the rest of the UK - providing comfort, connection, confidence and renewed purpose at a time of uncertainty. Exploring how dogs can help people with dementia live well, stay connected, and experience moments of joy every day.

If you would like to learn more about how our dementia support work could be right for you, we would love to hear from you.

You can also visit Alzheimer Scotland for information about dementia and brain health.