ROZE (Regionale Opvang Zwerfdieren Eindhoven), an animal shelter in the Netherlands have previously attended Battersea’s Academy Residential Week.
They were recently visited by members of the Academy team, so the team could see first hand many of the changes ROZE has brought in from their training with the Academy. Visits to other organisations are vital in helping the Battersea team further understand the wider animal welfare sector.
Alma van Dorenmalen, Operational Manager at ROZE, has attended multiple Battersea Academy learning opportunities, gaining invaluable insights and knowledge, which ROZE has since gone on to implement in their day-to-day operations.
One of these, a session on kennel design, provided Alma with new perspectives on kennel layouts from a dog welfare point of view, including the advantages and disadvantages that may come along with different designs.
Alma said:
“This was a really good course to just get your head around what it means to have a different kennel design, and what can you do with that. And not to be frustrated about what you have, because this is it, and you will make the best out of it.”
The Battersea visit provided further opportunities for the ROZE team to exchange ways of working with the Battersea Academy team on topics including dog and cat assessing, and dog training methods, and to try out techniques from the Battersea training in person.
Alma added:
“You can change so many things, but you need to be able to embed it within your practice, people need to be on board with it. The team at Battersea provide so many of these functional and logical things.”
Alma is keen to implement further learnings from the Residential Week and the Battersea visit, including dog training within kennels, as ROZE have previously kept kennels as the dogs’ safe space; ACE free work, and using Battersea’s methods of dog behaviour observations and assessing for greater accuracy, particularly when assessing larger or higher risk dogs.
The knowledge exchange did not end with the Academy visit. The Battersea team set up virtual follow up meetings with ROZE’s Alma and Ragna, to further discuss the dog assessing process, with the aim of helping increase ROZE staff and volunteers’ observation skills and assist them in implementing a new Basic Care Plan system, similar to Battersea’s, yet tailored to the specific needs of ROZE and their staff.
Battersea’s Simon explained:
“It was fantastic to visit Alma and the team at ROZE. We were so impressed with their facilities and the brilliant work they are doing. It was great to discuss and see firsthand how they embraced and implemented different techniques from the Academy courses. We saw their plans to implement different means of training and enrichment and their own “Push, Drop, Stick” style charts they have created, from Academy’s ‘How Dogs Learn’ module, which have helped staff and volunteers when teaching their dogs new skills. Their commitment to excellence is truly commendable and we were all so grateful to be able to see their work in person.”
