Cheltenham Animal Shelter strongly believes that educating people about responsible pet ownership will help to reduce neglect within our community. Cheltenham Animal Shelters Education Officer works with many schools, community groups and organisations to promote responsible pet ownership. Every animal that is re-homed through the shelter is either neutered before it leaves or shortly afterwards. This, combined with promoting neutering as a positive step in responsible pet ownership will, we hope, one day reduce the number of stray and abandoned animals in our area.

This year we saw the launch of our very popular Animal Camp programme. The programme aims to give young people the opportunity to attend the shelter during their schools breaks to learn about responsible pet ownership and other animal related issues. It also gives children an opportunity to gain some hands on experience with companion animals.

For further details about our Animal Camps and this years dates and availability please contact the Education Officer on 0871 2230407 or education@gawa.org.uk

A unique part of the Shelter's education portfolio is the HALT Project (Humans and Animals Learning Together), an animal assisted therapy  programme delivered five times a year for ‘at risk’ youth in Gloucestershire. It allows young people, many of whom have been excluded from school, to come to the Shelter for a four week course designed to foster compassion, respect and responsibility. During the course attendees are paired up with homeless dogs which they must care for and train; this not only helps the students but also benefits the shelter by having dogs that are ultimately more re-homable as they understand basic commands. Graduates of this programme have in many instances gone back into mainstream education and the Shelter is proud to lead the UK in this exciting initiative.