Autism Service Guide Dog for Casey

Casey is a 6 foot tall 19 year old with severe Autism, and functions on the level of a toddler. He has breakdowns and runs away from the house. Just runs as fast as he can, jumping fences and running across busy roads. For miles and miles. He breaks in houses when he gets hungry. He gets lost in the woods miles from home and steals heavy equipment and drives it down the road (His father is a heavy equipment operator). He doesnt know how to get home. He doesnt undertand why any of this is wrong. He doesnt understand that the world can be a very dangerous place to just roam around for hours as his family and the police look for him. I met him last night, as a K9 search volunteer to help the Rockdale County Sheriffs Dept. find this missing boy. He had been gone for hours, and had broken in a house when he got hungry, and stole a track loader and drove it down the side of the road until it ran out of gas. Ten hours later past midnight, and ten miles later, with my K9 on his track, we got a call over the police radio that he was found about two miles ahead of us. He was filthy dirty, his clothes ripped. I wanted to meet this boy who we had been looking for from 8pm to 1am. What I met was one of the sweetest boys I've ever met. He didnt understand anything he did was wrong. Nothing was done out of malice. He was just following his own disabled thinking and doing what he needed to do to get by minute to minute. His best thinking will get him killed one of these days. He routinely breaks in other people's houses. When he decides to run, no one can stop him.

I am the owner of Peach State K9, a professional dog trainer with 28 years experience. Pet dogs to Service Dogs to Police K9s, and I am going to train an Autism Service Dog for Casey. This fundraiser is for that. He will be tethered to this Service Dog all of his waking hours. It will be trained to protect him from himself, to shepherd him away from roads and traffic, to not allow him to run away, and to get adult help when he tries to. To block him when he tries to go where he shoudnt. He will be his anchor. This Service Dog will go to school with him (Hes in 10th grade at 19 years old), and be his companion, best friend, and protector. This Service Dog will be selected and will begin training immediately with hundreds of hours of training before he gets him, and hundreds more once he has him working. Obedience, Willful Dis-Obedience, Herding, Blocking, Meltdown Interruption, etc.. Our goal for them as a pair is to be able to live a semi- independant life, at the same time always insuring that he is kept safe. This money will help cover a fraction of his real cost, and is just our way of trying to help him before he gets killed. This is going to be a $40,000+ value autonomous Autism Service Dog, trained custom especially for Casey. He will perform some tasks by command, will perform other tasks without, and will refuse commands if dangerous or unsafe.

We are selecting the dog immedietely and beginning training. This fundraiser only helps cover my time to train this dog, and without your help, we couldnt provide this for him. It is truly hundreds upon hundreds of hours, and this covers a very small portion of that time. We wish we were rich enough to just donate all of that time.

We appreciate your support in an Autism Service Dog for Casey. <3

David Williams, Owner

PEACH STATE K9

770-756-7042