Help Elijah get a service dog

Elijah is a bouncy 3 year old who is full of life, love and joy. He loves running, climbing, jumping and is especially gifted at escaping! He is affectionate and incredibly loving. He makes us laugh, he makes us cry, and he shows us the joy hidden within the mundane everyday.Elijah also has non-verbal autism, and this makes day to day life challenging and exhausting. But we are always looking for ways to support him and give him the best life possible. This is why we have made the exciting decision to get an assistance dog! After doing ALOT of research, we really feel like this will be huge for Elijah, and has the potential to bring him on leaps and bounds in so many ways!The areas in which a dog can help:- With Safety (Elijah has absolutely no danger awareness and would run straight into a road if given the chance.)- Behaviour Intervention- Interrupting Repetitive Behaviours- Calming and Preventing Meltdowns- Assisting with transitions- Sleeping (Currently he is getting 3 to 5 hours of sleep a night which is exhausting on so many levels!!)- Meal times (Food is very limited and we still rely heavily on milk)Other potential Benefits from having a trained dog:-Responsibility-Communication-Independance-Social SituationsThe dog will also help us as a family to feel normal and do simple things like going to the shop without anxiety of how Elijah will be. It will bring his 2 older siblings Chloe and Malachi the calming and therapeutic benefits of having a pet as they deal with worries and anxieties that young kids shouldn't have to deal with.The new puppy will complete 2 years of intense training and this is the bit that goes above and beyond a normal pet dog and therefore is very very expensive! The dog will be trained to an ADI level (Assistance Dog International, Inc.) and we will receive a lifetime support service should we need it after the training has been completed. The total cost of the animal and training is going to be £9236 and as a low income family we would not be able to achieve this on our own. So many people regularly ask how they can help us as a family. Day to day there really isn't much that can be done to help with the stress of Special Needs life. But to help us to fund this unique service for our boy would be such a help, no matter how small! For more information on where we are getting the dog from please visit https://www.bales-buddies.co.uk/