Our world has opened wide since Uggs joined our family!
As a family of seven, four of whom are diagnosed with autism, we were struggling to complete the most basic of tasks. We couldn’t take our children out unless we had other adults with us as two were bolters and all needed supervision. Our home quickly turned to our prison and we stopped being parents and became jailers. The idea of a service dog was daunting, had we got the patience, the skill, the time?
In November 2014, we decided to bite the bullet, we had our family assessment and in February 2015 we got the call to say that Uggs, a 4-month-old golden Labrador was to be our saviour. We read the manual from cover to cover and involved the whole family in the training. We were anxious that we were making mistakes, the dog wouldn’t pass the training, the attachment wouldn’t be a success, you name it we feared it!!!
Our daughter who was 9 at the time had been having a specifically difficult time, her behaviours were outrageous and were presenting hazardous scenarios to our whole family. Herself and Uggs took time to become pals but once that bond was formed it was tight. She is now 14 and as soon as she arrives home from school, she lays on the floor and Uggs lays over her, providing the deep pressure that she needs to calm her after a long day. She leads her when we are out walking and to see how the relationship has developed between them is purely heart-warming.
Uggs totally trusts Tiegan and Tiegan totally trusts Uggs. If Tiegan is having a hard day or a rough night, she goes to Uggs for comfort and Uggs loves the attention. We as a family have had our world opened wide since Uggs joined our family, her presence gave us the opportunity to learn strategies in environments that previously we would have had to avoid.
We were so impressed with the programme that we went on to raise two additional puppies who went on to be companions for other families. My only regret about the whole experience is that we didn’t apply sooner!!!
Carol Lennon
