Dogs for the Disabled Chief Executive, Peter Gorbing, has been elected President of the Interim Board of a new organisation set up to raise the profile of assistance dog organisations across Europe. Assistance Dogs Europe was formally set up at a conference in Paris that ran from October 25 – 27 inclusive.

Twenty-five organisations active in the assistance dog field and representing fifteen countries across Europe agreed to work together to promote the work of assistance dog organisations and to ensure that registered assistance dog partnerships have full access to public places across the whole of Europe.

Following the conference Peter Gorbing said: "I am delighted that Assistance Dogs Europe has been formed and this is an important step forward if we are to achieve one of our key aims of increasing and harmonising access for registered assistance dog partnerships across Europe.

"I am very proud to have been elected President of Assistance Dogs Europe and will work closely with other colleagues from across Europe to ensure that disabled people and their assistance dogs benefit from our efforts in the future."

Also elected to the Interim Board were Nina Bondarenko from Canine Partners and Andy Cook from Hearing Dogs for Deaf people.

For further information about the work of Assistance Dogs Europe
see www.assistancedogseurope.org
or contact Peter Gorbing on gorbing@dogsforthedisabled.org