Dogs Canberra Limited

Dogs Canberra's mission is to improve lives by fostering meaningful connections between people and dogs while reducing the number of dogs returned to shelters. Over the past year, our work has advanced this mission by combining dog rehabilitation with community mental health initiatives. Through community events focused on mental health and socialisation, we created opportunities for people who cannot own pets to experience the therapeutic benefits of interacting with our welltrained outreach dogs Nymeria and Tofu. These events helped reduce social isolation and supported mental wellbeing, particularly for individuals seeking companionship and connection. For our outreach dogs, these events provided a safe environment to strengthen their resilience and adaptability, even preparing Nymeria for her internal Therapy Dog Accreditation. The careful pairing of professional training with community involvement has supported our goal of reducing dog returns to shelters, through providing our team and our handlers with invaluable experience. By focusing on both human and animal welfare, Dogs Canberra is building a sustainable model that benefits the community while giving our dogs the best chance to thrive in their new homes.