Social workers frequently come into contact with dogs in their practice. Yet until now, it hasn't featured in social work research, education, training and guidance.

A recent study published in the British Journal of Social Work entitled ‘We’re not professionals when it comes to dogs:’ Social work encounters with dogs and their implications for education and practice sets out to address this omission. The research examines the risks and complexities that social workers might be faced with when encountering dogs, making a compelling case for greater attention on this subject area.

In this episode, Jonny Adamson is joined by the author of the research, Professor Denise Turner, social worker Sarah Long, who participated in the study and experienced aggressive dog behaviour while on a visit, and Certified Animal Behaviourist, Andrew Hale who specialises in complex animal behaviour cases.

They discuss how professionals can assess and minimise risk to themselves and others when encountering dogs, improvements and adjustments that employers could make to working practices, training and support needs for the profession, and the cultural, religious and health considerations which are being overlooked.

Our thanks to James Ede at BeHeard for producing the episode.

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