How to be attacked by a dog
About thirty little patients of the hospital at ul. Spornej yesterday took part in a meeting, whose main heroes were Czako and Chester. The dogs came from the reformatory in Ignacewo, together with three of its residents. This visit is part of the second edition of the project „Let’s help each other”, run by the Ama Canem Foundation.
The programme concerns both young people who have come into conflict with the law and dogs from the shelter in Łódź. After three months of training, conducted by the pupils of the house of correction, the dogs will go to people who need them.
Before teenagers Damian, Tom and Sebastian started training dogs, they were „trained”. According to Andrzej Niedzielski, the president of the Polish Dogotherapy Association, the boys from Ignacew quickly won over the animals. The past of all three is of no interest to the president. It is important that thanks to the teenagers, in a few weeks Chester will start to make life more pleasant for his disabled siblings and Czako will go to a retired couple. For Damian the approaching day of handing the dogs over to their future owners will not be the happiest one, but he hopes that new pets will soon appear in Ignacew.
This is confirmed by Krzysztof Waligórski, director of the reformatory. Although he doesn’t know if the quarter spent with Czako and Chester will be enough for 17-year-old Damian not to appear in court again. He has been in trouble with the law for almost a decade, but the director hopes that contact with dogs will teach the teenager responsibility and reduce the level of frustration in him.
Neither the director’s charges nor the animals showed any frustration with the patients from Sporna Street. The dogs allowed themselves to be stroked by dozens of hands and Andrzej Niedzielski taught the children how to greet a strange pet properly. First you should put out your hand to sniff, and only then – when we gain acceptance of a dog – we can start stroking. Otherwise we may risk getting bitten.
But Chester and Czako didn’t even whine during their hour-long visit. At the end, the dogs were visited by children from the oncology ward who could not make it to the meeting held in the hospital auditorium. The four-leggeds themselves cuddled up to four-year-old Michał, which did not surprise them „educators”, Tom and Sebastian. According to them, both crossbreeds feel the need to help others. They finally felt needed. Just like the three from Ignacew.
Predecessors of Czako and Chester
Four dogs from the shelter participated in last year’s edition of the programme. One of them after training went to a couple who lost their children, another became a favorite of a bitch who did not tolerate other four-legged dogs around her. „Let us help ourselves” – This is the first such project in Europe.
