A Service Dog for Ollie (#servicedog4ollie)

To all our Family and Friends,

Like most of you, 2020 brought with it a number of unique and difficult challenges for our family. As some of you may know, our oldest son Oliver was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder in late 2020. Lindsay and I have been tenaciously setting up therapies and services in order to assist Ollie with reaching his fullest potential.

After thorough research and networking, we have decided to add a “furry” member to our family in the form of a loving, guiding Autism Service Dog. We truly believe this type of support has untapped potential for Oliver. Sometimes social/emotional communication taught by a non-human counterpart can help us grow in our understanding of the world. This added support from a service dog will give Oliver the independence for everyday tasks that we all sometimes take for granted.

For children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, service dogs can provide companionship, improve social skills, improve verbal and non-verbal communication, facilitate interaction with the world around them, teach life skills, interrupt certain behaviors, and calm emotional outbursts. Oliver’s service dog will be specifically trained to meet his social, emotional, and physical needs. One of the dog’s specialized skills will be Deep Pressure Therapy/Redirection, which is where the dog applies weighted pressure with the intention of calming the nervous system and diminishing overwhelming thoughts and negative emotions. Tactile redirection (placing attention on the weighted pressure of the dog’s body) will encourage Oliver to focus on his familiar, comforting, reassuring and loving best friend rather than overwhelming thoughts. Through consistent Deep Pressure Therapy, anxiety, panic, meltdowns, and/or overwhelming thoughts tend to decrease in intensity, occur less frequently and for shorter lengths of time, or can sometimes cease completely!

With all that being said, the reason for this fundraiser is to ask for your assistance in raising the funds needed for this highly credentialed canine. This new member of our family will require extensive training to meet the standards for Public Access (ability to go with Oliver everywhere), as well as become equipped with the skills needed to support Oliver with all of his endeavors. It is our responsibility to raise the true cost of all that goes into initially raising and training this service dog, which is estimated to be between $15,000-$20,000.

We hope you will consider supporting our mission to secure an Autism Service Dog for Oliver through ASA Service Dogs (www.ASAserviceDogs.org), a non-profit organization in Lakeland, FL dedicated to training specialized service pups. If you have the means (no matter how large or small) to help us continue to support Oliver, please donate. We also ask that you share this fundraiser far and wide!

We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your time and consideration. We cannot thank everyone in our family and community enough for this ongoing support. It really takes a village and we couldn’t make this possible without you!

 

With much love and gratitude,

 
Dustin, Lindsay, Oliver, & Harrison