The Comfort Dog Project

The Comfort Dog Project is the first canine-assisted trauma therapy intervention in Africa.

In 2014, The BIG FIX Uganda embarked on an audacious mission: to create the first canine-assisted trauma program in Uganda and perhaps all of Africa. The need was great. Over 700,000 people in Northern Uganda were suffering from severe PTSD—a scar left by a brutal 20-year-long civil war. Rebels had kidnapped 30,000 children who were forced to witness or commit terrible atrocities. Those who survived returned to families and communities that ostracized them. With only one psychiatrist per million in Uganda, survivors were left to suffer and die alone. Too many committed suicide.

This inspired The BIG FIX to create The Comfort Dog Project, based on scientifically proven effects of canine-trauma therapy programs operating in other countries. The Comfort Dog Project faced a major hurdle: In general, Ugandans feared dogs. Rabies - which regularly terrorized communities and claimed many lives - caused a separation between people and the dogs who lived among them. Dogs led lives that were brutal and short. They were used for hunting and security but were usually left to find their own food and water. Veterinary care was not available before the arrival of The BIG FIX. There was a saying for people who fell ill and had no money to get help: “You will heal like a dog.” It was not a good prognosis.

The Comfort Dog Project paired trauma survivors with former street dogs who had also suffered. Twelve teams were part of the first cohort and commenced a 20-week long training and bonding program. It didn’t take long for bonds to develop between the guardians and their dogs. Instinctively, the dogs learned to comfort their guardians and healing occurred.

Over 100 Comfort Dog Project teams have now completed the 20-week training and bonding program. Trauma measures taken before and after training show significant reduction in PTSD symptoms and improved wellbeing. Annual measures show that this impressive psychosocial improvement is long term as well. In 2021, The Comfort Dog Project’s Scientific Advisor published 5 years of therapeutic data in the peer-reviewed journal Intervention, illustrating the effectiveness of the program.

Most of our guardians remain committed to the work of The BIG FIX Uganda and many are now key staff in BIG FIX’s programs.

The fantastic transformation of our guardians and Comfort Dogs has not gone unnoticed by the greater community. Thanks to The Comfort Dog Project, there is a new saying in Northern Uganda: “You will heal with a dog.”

Learn More about the science behind The Comfort Dog Project.

“To effectively train a young dog, you must have patience, concentration, empathy, and effective communication. These are all social skills damaged by conflict trauma. Our guardians must re-learn these skills with their Comfort Dogs and are able to use them re-connect with their families and communnities. ”

— Meg Daley Olmert

“This dog saved my life.”

— Akumu Filda with Comfort Dog Lok Oroma

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CDP Guardian Moses, with Comfort Dog Fifi by his side, reads his poem about the impact The Comfort Dog Project had on both of them.

Project Management

Francis Okello Oloya has served for 10 years as Project Manager. Francis graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Community Psychology from Makerere University. As a child, Francis was severely injured in a bomb blast which left him blind. His unique perspective has made him highly effective at helping others to regain their lives after severe trauma.

Francis’s exceptional work with BIG FIX was acknowledged when he was named International Education Champion by the World Rabies Day Awards. In 2024, he earned a Canine Intervention Specialist Certificate from the University of Denver School of Social Work.

Achan Laura serves as Project Social Worker. Laura has a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Sciences from Makerere University and has extensive experience as a mental health counselor, with a focus on trauma counseling. Her work experience includes serving as a counselor at Palabek Refugee Settlement. Her emphasis has been on counseling victims of GBV (gender-based violence) and sexual assault and providing psychosocial support to formerly abducted persons and war trauma survivors.

Francis Okello Oloya, CDP Manager

Achan Laura, CDP Social Worker

Trauma Counseling

For the past ten years, The BIG FIX has been holding monthly group counseling sessions for trauma survivors in five different villages. All participants in The Comfort Dog Project were selected from these counseling groups.

The Comfort Dog Project makes a lifetime commitment to all dogs and guardians in our program. We provide ongoing psychosocial support and even counseling for family members of project guardians. Monthy meetings of all CDP participants also feature opportunities for group and individual counseling and support.

Dog Training

Comfort Dog Project graduates are empowered to serve as dog trainers and mentors for the subsequent CDP classes.

Our Lead Dog Trainer, Akumu Filda, is a graduate of our first Comfort Dog Project class (2015) and her natural ability to communicate with dogs and to teach others has been widely recognized. Filda is one of Africa’s only Certified Evaluators for the Good Canine Citizen Program administered by the American Kennel Club (Evaluator #101763).

She was also honored as a Silent Hero of the Month by Silent Heroes Foundation and was featured on the BBC series 100 Women (2019).

Akumu Filda, Lead Dog Trainer

Carrying it Forward

15 of The BIG FIX’s 32 permanent staff members are graduates of The Comfort Dog Project. Many more CDP graduates work with BIG FIX on a day rate basis as members of our School Education Team, trainers and mentors for the new CDP teams, field educators at our village clinics, and as community mobilizers. Three of BIG FIX’s Hospital Veterinary Assistants are CDP graduates, as well as our Lead Dog Trainer, both of our Animal Welfare Officers, and some of our security staff. CDP graduates make up 100% of our Animal Welfare Team (handling all rescue calls, rehabilitation, fostering, adoption, home checks, and care of the animals on The BIG FIX premises.