We’ve known for years we wanted to get a service dog for our son, Dean. He’s almost 9 years old now, but the idea was born when he was three and a giant mastiff visited his special needs preschool as a therapy dog… Dean LOVED her. (Over the years since, he’s tried to make our 8 pound yorkipoo his very own autism dog, but she’s been mostly unwilling and completely unqualified.)
We waited, in part to be sure it was what we wanted, but mostly because the application process and the cost of the dog were daunting. The full application process took us several years from beginning to end, and we spent those years saving and fundraising the needed money. We had friends and our community rally around us to help us raise the money — including our gym who put on a fundraising event on our behalf — and during that time of waiting and fundraising, the idea for Pawtism was born. We knew there were other families who, like us, could benefit tremendously from an autism assistance dog- who had similar challenges and the same safety concerns and fears as us. We also knew that the cost of a service dog was a burden at best, and likely a prohibitive barrier for some families. While we had generous financial support from others and the ability to set aside savings, these are not things available to every family. Seeing this need, we took a leap and founded Pawtism, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping families obtain an autism service dog by awarding grants to cover a portion of the cost.
Fast forward a couple years, and Dean finally has his dog, a giant golden doodle named Wally (and, despite the roadblock of a global pandemic, Pawtism is finally off the ground, having awarded our first grants and moving forward with fundraising so that we can continue to help more families). Wally’s temperament couldn’t be more perfect for Dean — he is calm and gentle, patient, and eager to work. Wally is adjusting to Dean’s constant desire to flop over his ears to take a close look inside, and how he likes to stim by touching Wally’s fluffy tail. We are enjoying the peace of mind that comes from taking our three kids anywhere outside of our home and knowing, because of Wally, Dean won’t wander away or step out in front of a car, even if we’ve taken our hands or eyes off him for a few seconds (because sometimes younger siblings need help and there are only two of us). And if Dean does ever go missing (which is most every parent of a child with autism’s worst nightmare), Wally is learning to find him by following his scent! It’s an astounding, life altering skill that I pray we will never have to use, but it calms some of the constant anxiety that comes with the territory of loving and parenting a nonverbal autistic child. And now, we hope to be able to help give other families the same thing… We know that there are so many other kids like our Dean whose lives would be changed by having their very own Wally.
