Service Dog Training

Hi, my name is Erin and I'm trying to raise money to train my Puppy Cujo to be a Psychiatric Service Dog to help me manage my anxiety. I've been struggling with mental health issues my whole life, and each year I feel like I get worse. I faced many struggles during my childhood that no child should ever have to go through, and my adult life hasn't been much easier sometimes. Ive managed to block a lot of it out of my memory but I'm still effected a lot mentally and emotionally. Going out is a huge struggle, all the people and the noise and just everything around me is overwhelming and overstimulating to the point that my body and mind begin to shut down and go in to panic mode. I feel like l can't breathe, l get shaky, my mind begins to race a mile a minute in all different directions and my chest gets tight. For awhile I have been trying different methods to try and manage my panic attacks but nothing is working very well. I have tried to comfort myself through my attacks by stimming with fidget toys and have even tried carrying around plushies, but that comes with it's own issues too. (People give you funny looks and make mean comments when you're an adult hugging a teddy bear lol) I don't handle confrontation well due to past abuse so it Causes me to panic and shut down. One thing that has always been there for me in my life is animals. I don't remember a time in my life where I didn't have a dog. My mom and Grandma were always heavily involved in rescue so l always had the comfort and joy of a pet. I’ve decided to go the self training route with the additional help from a Trainer because its the only way I will be able to afford a Service Dog but unfortunately paying for a trainer is still a little out of my reach! A Service Dog would mean so much to me and would allow me a lot of independence that haven't had for awhile but I can't do it without your help. All funds are being put towards a professional dog trainer who has prior experience training Psychiatric Service Dogs and will be able to train Cujo and me to be a team so that I can go out without so much fear. I promise to keep you all updated on Cujo and I's progress so you can watch him grow and see how his Service Dog journey is progressing! Thanks for reading!