What's Included in The Animal Connection?

The Animal Connection is a comprehensive humane education program comprising of video lessons accompanied by a teacher’s guide, lesson plans, and suggested exercises. The program is designed to enhance performance in critical content areas such as essay writing, math, and critical thinking through video presentations and motivational lessons about animal welfare. Each lesson provides teachers with objectives, suggested activities, and ways to approach the subject matter.

It takes two forms: 

Our Curriculum at a Glance

Lesson 1: Introduction to The Animal Connection

This video introduces students to the program’s humane education teachers and some registered therapy dogs they will meet throughout the curriculum. Descriptions of the topics to be covered in the lessons are provided.

Lesson 2: Care and Responsibility

This lesson teaches students that everything we need to be happy and healthy as humans is the same thing companion animals need. However, they cannot provide for themselves and rely on their guardians to care for them. The length of the commitment to a companion animal is demonstrated through a “Life Timeline,” indicating the changes that will take place in students’ lives throughout the life span of various companion animals.

Lesson 3: Life and Death in the Shelter

In this video, students experience a loose companion animal's process from being picked up off the street, transported, scanned for a microchip, tagged, licensed, and impounded. The video shows the day-to-day existence of cats and dogs and what happens if the shelter becomes overcrowded. The term “euthanasia” is taught, and the humane conditions under which it is done are explained.

Lesson 4: The Need for Spaying and Neutering

Building on the preceding class, “Life and Death in the Shelter,” students learn why spaying and neutering companion animals are necessary. The video shows in a non-graphic way the preparation, surgery, and recovery process the animal experiences. Through illustrations showing multiplication, students learn to extrapolate litter numbers to understand why shelters are often overwhelmed and unable to care for all the animals they receive, resulting in the preventable practice of euthanasia.

Lesson 5: The Consequences
of Dog Chaining

This lesson explains the dangers of dog chaining to both people and dogs and discusses alternatives to chaining. Students will see what life is like for a chained dog and learn about common injuries and how it affects a dog’s temperament. Students will also learn the difference between “fight” and “flight” and why using trolley systems or electric fences are dangerous for dogs.

Lesson 6: Loose Dog & Bite Safety

This lesson teaches students how to read dogs’ and cats’ behaviors to determine when to leave them alone and how to play with them safely. Special emphasis is given to precautions when around unknown and loose dogs. Methods of protection from loose dogs and aggressive and biting dogs are demonstrated. Teachers are encouraged to have students practice their newly acquired skills involving feeding, giving a treat, and playing with an animal, as well as appropriate behavior around loose and/or aggressive/biting dogs.

Lesson 7: Bloodsport

This lesson discusses the illegal activities of training dogs and roosters to fight. The video covers the history of dog- and cockfighting, the cruel methods and equipment used to train the animals, and how to report animal cruelty safely and suspected dog- or cockfighting. The images shown are not graphic but may nevertheless disturb some students.

Lesson 8: The Link Between Animal Abuse and Other Forms of Violence

This lesson presents the connections among animal cruelty, bullying, domestic violence, and other forms of violence. This is known as “the Link.” Students learn why some people are typically victims, why some are bullies, and why most stand by while bullying occurs. Emphasis is placed on recognizing and safely stopping the cycle of abuse. Students are introduced to Perkins, a dog formerly used as leverage within a domestic violence situation and now a registered therapy dog volunteering at local hospitals and classrooms. The value of kindness and the humane treatment of animals is presented in the context of humane relationships.

Lesson 9: Careers in Animal Welfare

This lesson includes interviews with people who work at Bernalillo County Animal Care Services, located in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Students learn about the daily duties of several staff members, including the executive director, a kennel manager, a behaviorist, and an animal welfare officer. The lesson encourages students to consider a rewarding career helping animals.

Lesson 10: Sherpa's Farm

Through this video lesson filmed at a northern New Mexico sanctuary, students learn of the special needs and responsibilities of caring for farmed animals. The ranch manager introduces some animals residing at the Sherpa’s Farm and shares their background stories. Students visually experience the extent of the daily chores necessary to care for these animals humanely.

The Animal Connection, Jr.: Reading to Dogs

This special, lighthearted lesson features Thad, a 3rd-grader who reads to a group of curious canines in a library setting. Education Outreach Director Sherry Mangold talks with Thad about greyhounds used in racing and how these sensitive animals need families who will protect and care for them. Thad reads a book titled Pele’s Forever Home, a true story about a former racing greyhound, to the attentive “class” of dogs, who smile, bark, and wag their tales in enjoyment. The message provided through this lesson encourages the viewer to adopt a companion animal from a reputable rescue or shelter.


Interested in Our Curricula?

The Animal Connection and The Animal Connection Jr. courses satisfy New Mexico Public Education Department’s Core Standards.

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