Demonstrating the potential of dogs to facilitate social encounters for people with intellectual disabilities

Background: This pilot study provided support to adults with intellectual disabilities to regularly walk a dog in their community and evaluated the effectiveness to facilitate encounters with other community members.

Method: A matched pairs design was used. Eight participants in Group 1 had 14 one-hour outings with a handler and their dog, whilst eight participants in Group 2 had 14 outings with a handler alone, followed by five additional outings with a handler and their dog. Differences in the average number of encounters were compared when a dog was present and absent and the qualitative data provided insights into the nature of these encounters.

Results: Participants had significantly more encounters of a different and more convivial nature when they went out with a dog. The qualitative data suggested the dog also offered protection against negative factors, and gave participants greater confidence to engage in social exchanges, and be more quickly recognised in community places.

Conclusions: The finding that a dog walking program has the potential to encourage convivial encounters has implications for policy and practice, particularly due to the launch of the NDIS in Australia, which is likely to open up possibilities for more individualised interventions to support community participation.