An Autism Service Dog for Chloe

First of all, we want to thank all of our friends, family, teachers, and helpers. Your love and support mean so much to us. Our baby girl, Chloe Indianna, is an incredibly amazing little person. She’s such a happy, loving, playful, adventurous, and intelligent little girl but oftentimes lost in her own world. Her memory is incredible, however, and she amazes me more and more each day as her communication develops and progresses. I can’t wait to see more of what she is capable of. She has been such a blessing to our family, and we hope to provide her with all the tools she needs to minimize obstacles and help her reach her full potential in life. 

I knew in my heart that Chloe was autistic by the time she was about 2 1/2 years old, but because girls often show signs differently than boys, I kept getting told it was probably just a learning disability and that she would grow out of it. After she turned 3, I listened to my heart and took her to someone who was experienced in evaluating females. She was officially diagnosed in June 2020 with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Sensory Processing Disorder, Anxiety, and a high probability of ADHD. She is “Hypo-sensitive” meaning she craves stimulation and is sensory seeking in many ways. Due to COVID, it has been extremely difficult to get her started in the therapy services she needs and to find the help and guidance that we need as parents. And believe me, we need all the help we can get. 

Chloe does talk, but most of her communication is done by what is called “echolalia.” For those unfamiliar with that term, echolalia means that her words or phrases are memorized and mimicked. Scripted almost. She is getting better at using her memorized responses in context, but it’s a process and we have a long way to go. She struggles daily with engaging in dangerous thrill-seeking behavior, sensitivity to loud or sudden sounds, sensory overload, anxiety, cooperative play, and connecting with other kids, communication, body awareness, hyperactivity, meltdowns, high pain tolerance, Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake, and sleep disturbances. Her mind simply will not slow down long enough to allow her to get the sleep that she needs on a consistent basis which exacerbates all her regular struggles, and ours.  We are not comfortable with her being alone in a room for hardly any amount of time. In minutes, she’ll be climbing, breaking, eating, and terrorizing all the things that she shouldn’t be, in most cases for her own safety. This means that someone must be with her, basically in the same room 24/7 and it is nearly a constant redirection and distraction of behaviors and very exhausting.

I don’t take Chloe to many public places very often, especially by myself, because the whole experience becomes very overwhelming very quickly. She has little to no self-regulating behaviors, she’s very impulsive, and does not sense danger nor does she understand stranger danger. She has a tendency to take off running the very second she has a chance and I fear she will dart in front of a car, walk off with a stranger, or do something to injure herself.

There are a few things that Chloe loves and has had an interest in since the moment she was introduced. She loves water, dogs, and playing outside. We don’t get to play outside as often as I’d like because of her wandering, bolting, and terrifying curiosity in everything! She has helped herself to the deep end of the pool on multiple occasions, but her interest in dogs is what got me considering the idea of a service/companion dog for her. The benefits that come with a service dog could be such a tremendous help to both her and our family by providing a more stable, less fearful quality of life and improve the stressful relationships for all of us at home.

Autism service dogs are trained to provide a variety of services and benefits to autistic children. A few of these benefits are:

Impulsive Running and Tracking – the dog can help retrieve the child or alert parents.

PICA- the dog will stop the child from eating inappropriate items.

Increased social interaction – Interest of dog to other children presents opportunities for increased interaction.

Improved Independence – Child feels a sense of independence not having to constantly hold hands with a parent or have a parent hovering over them.

Redirecting repetitive behaviors, self-harming behavior, or dangerous situations – dogs can be taught to nudge the child and distract them.

Deep pressure therapy- providing an overall calming ability.

Increased vocabulary – children tend to feel less pressure when speaking to a dog which transfers to more verbal interaction with people.

Better sleep – Many parents report better sleeping patterns because the dog is with them and provides constant comfort.



These are just a few of the many things a service dog can be trained to do, not to mention the friendship and companionship a dog will give to Chloe. Service dogs are trained specifically to meet the needs of the child they will be serving and therefore they are not cheap. They are considered professional, working dogs, and there is no place where the dog cannot accompany the child. They are intensively trained within a time frame of 6 months to a year and the process of getting one is not easy. Many service dog providers have at least a 2-year waiting list and a minimum of $500 - $6,500 down to reserve a spot and guarantee your waiting list position. The total cost of the dog is $15-$21,000.

This is where and why we are reaching out to our friends, family, and our community for help and support. We are trying to raise money to provide a quality of life for our sweet little Chloe that we could not provide otherwise, and we can’t do it alone. We are looking to get her an English Cream Goldendoodle and we plan to do multiple fundraising activities and crowdfunding to cover the fees involved. All funds received will be paid directly to the service dog providing agency. The funds will be used to cover the cost of the dog, vet fees, extensive one-on-one training, boarding, food, equipment, and dog supply needs as well as ongoing care once the dog is placed. It’s a large amount of money to request from anyone but I believe that any donation amount, however big or small, will help us get one step closer to reaching our goal and will be so very helpful and appreciated. If you are unable to donate, but would still like to help, please share our story so that others can hear and join in our cause. The sooner we can raise the money, the sooner Chloe can be united with her new best friend and companion. Thank you for taking the time to read our story and we appreciate you!

You can learn more about autism, service dogs, and some of the other things I’ve mentioned by clicking on the following links:

Autism Assistance Dogs 
About Autism 
Echolalia 
Sensory Processing Issues 
Austism and ADHD 
Autism and picky eating