Assistance Dog Survey

Jane Richards said that EDGF aimed to produce the most accurate census possible of assistance dogs in Europe. The last EGDF survey was in 2014 and an update was planned for 2019 but delayed because of the pandemic. Given the positive impact of the original survey, she thought it important to repeat the process in 2023.

In 2014 EGDF reported that there were 14,200 working guide dogs and 4,000 other types of assistance dogs. In 2021 ADEu reported that their members had 5,400 guide dogs in service and 5,700 other types of assistance dogs.

The EGDF survey would cover all known guide dog school in each country and owner-trained dogs where possible and evaluate the results by country and population with a view to identify where support was most needed. EGDF planned to create a working group of members and to work with ADEu, EBU and EDF to gather the information.