We are Growing Up Buel! As parents you want to see your child succeed, have fun, feel and show love, be safe, and grow up happy - knowing they were loved to the fullest. That is what Bud and I want for our Buel and our Amiette. However, parents also know that is impossible to do everything perfectly and have to admit the need for help from time to time. This is why we want a therapy dog...

Buel is a gentle giant - extremely strong and physically capable. He is fast, smart, and full of energy. You add all of that up in any child and you have a whirlwind. Now, add all of that to a child on the autism spectrum and you have a beautifully chaotic and sometimes difficult/potentially dangerous whirlwind. Buel has run off, gotten himself up a tree too far, and has wandered off even while careful eyes were on him - he's a kid. However, because Buel is autistic - when he elopes or climbs up a tree, it carries a larger weight with it because he is primarily non-verbal. When you call his name to try and find him, he will not respond to let you know where he is. Along with those kinds of dangers - Buel has emotional meltdowns from time to time where we are unable to truly console him as we cannot understand what is wrong. This can cause a frazzled household.

So a therapy dog... 

After researching the benefits of a therapy dog for an autism family; we fell in love with the idea. A therapy dog would be trained to help Buel with his anxiety and eloping. An autism service dog, for example, can accompany a child to decrease anxiety during medical or dental visits, school activities, shopping and travel. We would have the dog trained to recognize and gently interrupt or help de-escalate an emotional meltdown. For instance, it might respond to signs of anxiety or agitation with a calming action such as leaning against or gently laying across his lap. And while the dog would not be a babysitter, having it be able to alert us if Buel has eloped and/or stay with Buel when he does elope would be a huge help to us. And while the new four-legged member of our family would be primarily for Buel; there would be the added benefit of emotional support and a source of love and fun for the rest of us. Amiette is constantly bringing up Monster Truck and Puttis, watching videos of animals, etc. She also could use some calming presence and another family member who she could love on as well. And let's face it - us parents could use the love of a dog around too!

The financial undertaking of buying a dog and having it trained to the specific needs of our family is definitely steep. The funds donated will first and foremost go to the purchase of a puppy/young dog. We have our eye on a puppy that would need to be shipped from out of state. After the dog has joined our family - the remaining funds will go to obedience training at first and then the actual high end training required for our new family member to be specially trained to be ADA compliant. Being ADA certified would allow it to travel and accompany us all over without restrictions. With the added sense of security; hopefully it will allow us to confidently do more in the community and even with traveling as well.

Please consider donating to the Growing Up Buel cause - in helping us be the best we can as we navigate the ever-changing, yet oddly routine, life of an autism family. Bud and I are stretched pretty thin as parents to fulfill all the needs of our children - both neuro-diverse and neuro-typical. We seldom ask for help because in today's world, everyone has something going on and we would never want to be a burden or impose our needs above anyone else's. However, we are at a point where we do need to ask for some help and we are already so thankful to everyone who has ever provided us love and support. Thank you so much for even reading this. If you are unable to donate - please pass this along. 

Thank you so much!