A Service Dog for Baylor

We are raising money to have a dog trained as a service animal for my 4 year old son, Baylor. Baylor has autism and is nonverbal and a wanderer. 100% of the time, Baylor will wander away from safe places - such as home or classrooms or playgrounds. Being nonverbal means he cannot communicate with others or understand most verbal communication. This puts Baylor at an extremely high risk for death or injury. Individuals with autism have twice the mortality risk than the general population due to these behaviors. In 2009, 2010, and 2011, accidental drowning caused by wandering accounted for 91% total U.S. deaths reported in children with an autism spectrum disorder. Include in factors such as traffic dangers (he has no concept of danger and walks out into streets) and the risk of death or injury only grows. Having a service dog that is trained to "herd" Baylor back to safe areas is a gift we can only pray to be able to provide our son.

The money raised will be used to pay for the training of Ruby, our (now) 9 week old golden retreiver puppy. We have found a wonderful trainer that is confident he will be able to train Ruby to herd Baylor when he begins to wander. He feels Ruby will need to begin training when she is 5 months old, leaving us just 3 months to raise the funds necessary. He believes it will take 12 months of training, as is considered standard. The total cost of training will be $5,900.  We are on a very limited budget and will not be able to afford this training without help. So we ask you to please help us provide our precious son with the safety net he so desperately needs. We will work extra jobs and scrape and save for every penny we can alongside any donations we may receive. The safety of our son is our mission, and we will do whatever we have to do to achieve it! If you could help us, we would be so very grateful. Even just a little will help so much. Seriously, every single dollar is a dollar we otherwise would not have!

How can you thank someone for helping to save your son's life? What words are big enough?

From this mother's heart to yours, I thank you. I thank you. I thank you.

Here are some pictures of the precious little boy you will be helping to protect.



Baylor loves to laugh. He is the happiest child I know. He is a pure soul and exists only in a world of happiness. He loves for me to sing him "You are my Sunshine." He loves to be tickled. He loves being outside. Baylor says "I love you" by touching our faces and rubbing his face on ours. He is our light and our joy.


Please help us give Baylor the help he needs.