Since 1987, Antonio García Pérez began using dogs in schools as an educational resource for children with special needs. Back then, it was not allowed for a dog to enter the school premises, let alone the classrooms…

Antonio, who passed his exams specializing in English, was assigned to that school as a Special Education teacher for two groups of children with special educational needs due to circumstances within the educational system at the time. In addition to enrolling in all the special education courses offered by the teachers’ center during the 1987-1988 school year, Antonio contacted specialists in special educational needs, colleagues who already had some experience, the educational guidance team, the educational inspection, etc… all to understand clearly how to work with specific children…

It so happened that one of his students, a child with Down syndrome, lived right in front of the school, and from the playground, they could see his balcony where a beautiful black Spanish Water Dog would bark when the children went out for recess…
Without much thought, Antonio approached the school’s director, also named Antonio and a dog lover, and convinced him to allow the dog to come into the school playground during the half-hour recess… Thus, without permission from any higher authority but with the director’s approval, for the first time in the history of dog therapy in Spain, a dog entered the school…

We won’t recount here how well that new experience worked, although we have the logbook that explains those daily situations and very curious instances of the dog’s loyalty and positioning towards its owner during crowded recess periods.

It wasn’t until 2004 that Antonio’s project was approved by the Education Department of the Andalusian Regional Government with grants to implement it in schools and high schools in Cadiz, Seville, Malaga, and others… Antonio had a great team of collaborators who were very enthusiastic at first to undertake such a beautiful educational task using dogs as an additional resource within the school… But the crisis radically cut off funding for the project, and the collaborators had to leave because there was no money even for travel expenses from Ubrique to towns in Seville, Cadiz, and Malaga…

Currently, Antonio García Pérez, now licensed in Educational Psychology, Mastered in Psychology, Education and Development, Evaluation and Educational Guidance, and Mastered in Therapy Assisted with Dogs, continues personally and completely free of charge, assisting four educational centers in the province of Cadiz and a nursing home with his group of Spanish Water Dogs (all females) prepared at all levels: health, social, training… to carry it out with children and the elderly of all kinds.

It is crucial to know that not every Spanish Water Dog is suitable for therapy. They must be very balanced in character, never timid, fearful, easily scared, distrustful, aggressive, or sad… They must be cheerful dogs, full of life, always eager to play with anyone because a good therapy dog DOES NOT MAKE DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN PEOPLE…

The photo illustrates any of the moments when Antonio and his dogs visit these schools on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, or Thursdays of any week…

We will continue to inform and illustrate on this topic…