𝐏𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐩 𝐖𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝟐 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐩

Day 2 at Philippine Startup Week was another strong day for Doghouse.PH. Foot traffic was high, and engagement grew even more compared to Day 1. We refined the format to make the sessions lighter and more interactive, a…

Summary

Day 2 at Philippine Startup Week was another strong day for Doghouse.PH. Foot traffic was high, and engagement grew even more compared to Day 1. We refined the format to make the sessions lighter and more interactive, a…

Original post

𝐏𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐩 𝐖𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝟐 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐩

Day 2 at Philippine Startup Week was another strong day for Doghouse.PH. Foot traffic was high, and engagement grew even more compared to Day 1. We refined the format to make the sessions lighter and more interactive, and the response was immediate.

One of the crowd favorites was the dog behavior and breed trivia game we introduced. It was fun, fast, and grounded in real science about how dogs think, communicate, and respond to people. The room was fully engaged the entire time.

We also had meaningful conversations around 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐠𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝. Many assume therapy dogs undergo a dedicated training program. In reality, there’s no “training to become” a therapy dog — either the temperament is naturally there, or it isn’t. Certification simply evaluates stability, sociability, emotional resilience, and teamwork with the handler. Sharing this clarified a lot of misconceptions, and the interest is promising.

At one point, some visitors wanted to greet Akiko while she was resting. It allowed us to highlight an important principle behind our work: 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐥𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬. Their welfare comes first. When they need to rest, we honor it.

I also brought Toshiro, my Shiba Inu, today. He’s not a certified therapy dog and wasn’t part of the formal sessions, but instead of leaving him at home alone, I brought him because he’s comfortable around Akiko and enjoys meeting new people. He had a good time on his own terms and retreated to his safe space whenever he needed it — a great reminder of how animal participation should always be pressure-free.

𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥, 𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝟐 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐥-𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞-𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝, 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐟𝐚𝐫𝐞-𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐲.

Source

Originally published on LinkedIn: View the original post