2016: Nairi Krafian, a member of the Boston Diaspora Armenian community, visited Yerevan and saw the strained relationship between dogs and people there. Having grown up with immense mental support from her own dog, she wanted those in Armenia to experience the benefits of the human-canine bond.
2017: Nairi started research to learn more about the needs of dogs and people in Armenia. She learned about the immense population of institutionalized individuals in Armenia, and how many Armenian citizens could benefit from canine-assisted interventions (CAIs) if it was available to them. She thought of the idea to train shelter dogs as therapy animals, and volunteers as their handlers. This would not only provide a service to those in need, but it would also help the public see the value of dogs.
2017: Nairi started research to learn more about the needs of dogs and people in Armenia. She learned about the immense population of institutionalized individuals in Armenia, and how many Armenian citizens could benefit from canine-assisted interventions (CAIs) if it was available to them. She thought of the idea to train shelter dogs as therapy animals, and volunteers as their handlers. This would not only provide a service to those in need, but it would also help the public see the value of dogs.
2018: Nairi continued Research & Development with the aforementioned plan, during which she learned that shelter dogs and volunteers were not fit to provide safe and effective CAIs in a professional manner. She found that, for health and behavior reasons, therapy dogs would have to live in a home with an individual that they can create a strong one-on-one bond with. She also found that in order to be properly trained and provide consistent CAIs, handlers would have to be full-time professionals, certified with uniform standards and fully dedicated to the job. Then Dobby was adopted!
2019: Hrachya Asatryan was hired as Armenia's first professional therapy dog handler, registered with Pet Partners (August 2019-August 2021), and further trained to meet Oknooshoon's standards. He trained with Dobby and when they were ready they took their CAI team evaluation. Their performance was evaluated by Dr. Susan Higgins, OTD, an occupational therapist and therapy dog handler in the US. Dr. Higgins has created a therapy dog program at a hospital in Massachusetts, and evaluated Hrach and Dobby based on the highest possible standards outlined by Pet Partners, Therapy Dogs International, and Oknooshoon. Dobby and Hrach successfully pass the evaluation to become Armenia's first certified CAI team and began providing sessions for individuals with disabilities! Their certification expiry in December 2021 was waived due to COVID and an inability to be re-evaluated at that time, but they will be re-evaluated upon Nairi's return to Armenia to renew their certification as a CAI team.
