After a three year long process, 8 year old Eli is finally getting his service dog! We will be traveling to Ohio from Virginia for a 10 day training with 4 Paws for Ability to teach us how to be service dog handlers this January (2026). Upon completion of our training we will graduate with the dog 4 Paws has been training specifically for Eli.

His dog is being trained as a multipurpose dog to best meet Eli's individual needs. The dog will be trained in areas such as seizure alert, item retrieval, sensory/autism support, mobility assistance and more!

We are very excited that the time has finally come, but that does mean we are now in the process of trying to fund the cost associated with this exciting endeavor. Cost such as travel, food, initial supplies for the SD etc.

This trip will be just shy of two weeks long; two travel days, 10 training days, and one 'break' day.

(Though the trip does fall under FMLA leave through my work, it is unpaid time away from both my full time job teaching and my part time job coaching, meaning I will only receive half a months paycheck)