Who We Are and What We Do

Aug 26, 2021 | Latest News

two people with dogs standing at the front door of Give a Dog a Bone Troon Community Space

Who We Are

Give a Dog a Bone… and an animal a home is a unique and award-winning charity tackling loneliness and social isolation for older adults, via animal companionship and friendship.​
 

What We Do

We do this via 2 projects:

1) We support older adults on low income to afford a rescue pet companion by paying the initial rehoming fee and continuing to support monthly with insurance fees/pet food costs.

It’s a WIN/WIN – the person gets a friend, and the animal gets a home! This project is UK wide.

2) We have three full time community spaces across Scotland – Shawlands, Troon and Alloa. This project is called ‘Companionship in the Community’. Here we offer a safe space for older adults to learn new skills, make new friends and mix with dogs.

 

Project Number 1 – Financial Support

Enables adults, aged over 60, to adopt a pet companion, where money is a barrier.

There are two ways in which we can offer financial support, this can be up to £200 towards the rehoming fee of a rescue animal from a legitimate rescue operation, or as monthly support to help cover the ongoing costs of pet insurance or food.

 

Woman sitting on chair in our Alloa Community Space with a small brown and white chihuahua standing next to her feet.

Project Number 2 – Companionship in the Community

Recognises that not all older adults want, or are able to have, a pet – and allows our visitors to spend time with our very special team of Companionship Dogs.

Anyone can visit our community spaces for a hot drink, a biscuit, a chat with the team, and to meet the dogs. For adults aged over 60 we have various individual and group activity sessions on offer, ranging from reflexology to language and exercise classes.

Room with tables and chairs for visitors to sit at and have a drink and a biscuit

We have pet food banks available at each of our community spaces, where anyone can collect FREE pet food if they need it.

We also have weekly group dog walks taking place in Shawlands and Troon, more information about these can be found here.

 

Over and above our two existing projects, during the lock down period, we created an outreach programme called The Sunshine Project.

The Sunshine Project

The Sunshine Project consisted of various ways in which our small team could enrich the lives of older adults stuck at home – often alone.

Some examples of our activities during this time:

  • Weekly Sunshine telephone calls
  • Surprise gifts through the post (Sunshine Packs)
  • An intergenerational project where we facilitated school aged children to send upbeat letters through the post to older adults to increase feelings of well-being and let them know they were not alone
  • Afternoon teas, hand delivered by our team, to the doorsteps of older adults, isolating, at home.

Through the Sunshine project, we also provide a suite of free Zoom activities for older adults such as Art Club, Gardening, Chair Yoga, Spanish for Beginners, Stretch and Flow and Mindfulness.

A woman standing in a room, leaning on a treatment bed.
Photo taken during Zoom, creative wellbeing art session - shows participants artwork

We are a grassroots charity making a genuine difference in communities.

This is who we are, and this is what we do!

 

For more information please visit the other areas of our website, and if you have any questions please email us at hello@giveadogabone.net.

 

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