New centre coming to Banbury hopes to give more people access to support dogs
The development centre will create a space for delivering animal assisted services on site
A charity that trains support dogs and pairs them with people is starting work to upgrade its site in Banbury today.
Dogs for Good is expanding its facilities, with an old bungalow set to be demolished and replaced with a new development centre for both puppies and people.
The improvements will provide a dedicated space for young puppies, while also allowing people to visit the site and use animal assisted services for the first time.
Dogs for Good helps around 4,000 people each year with conditions such as autism, dementia, physical disabilities and mental health issues.
Chief Executive Ed Bracher said: "We have a range of programmes that support people who are in challenging situations or dark moments of their life and we link them up with dogs, either as permanent partners or through our community projects.”
The new centre will enable the charity to carry out puppy assessments on site, helping trainers better understand each dog's temperament and the roles they are best suited to.
Mr Bracher said: "We breed and train our own dogs and that process takes about two years from birth to qualification. We get to know the dogs really well and our teams understand exactly what the strengths of our dogs are.
"At the same time, we need to understand the needs of clients and the people we're going to be working with, so we're able to have what we call matching conferences."
Mr Bracher said the expansion is an important step in helping more people access the charity's services.
"We're seeing a really big demand for what we do in the Banbury and north Oxfordshire area. We're reaching out to the community more and asking how we can get support people, particularly those who are feeling a bit socially isolated," he said.
The first phase of the development is expected to be completed by Christmas, before becoming fully operational around Easter next year.
Mr Bracher said he hopes the improvements will mean more dogs can complete their training.
"We're bringing through about 85 dogs a year and we want as many of those dogs to get to the end of the process as possible. One of the ways we can do that is by providing better facilities for our dogs," he said.
"Each one of those dogs provides an amazing impact for the people we work with, supporting people to feel more connected, more confident, more resilient, and just sometimes having a bit more fun and enjoying their life.
"So the more dogs we can get through, the more people we can support."
Dogs for Good is aiming to support around 6,000 a year by its 40th anniversary in 2028.