Therapy Dog for Luca

Our dear boy Luca is a funny, gentle and adventurous little guy who has Autism Spectrum Disorder, level 3. This is the most severe level of autism, requiring substantial support. Luca has a severe speech delay, significant anxiety, motor coordination and sensory processing challenges and an intellectual disability. Luca is a beautiful boy, who is loved by so many. However life is not always easy and we often feel very restricted  in our ability to enjoy some of the simpler aspects of family life: going for a walk to the park,  eating a meal together at home, going to a café, attending social gatherings, even going to the supermarket.

However, there are some things in life that Luca loves. His special interest is animals, especially dogs. Dogs help Luca to feel calm, safe and well regulated. When well regulated, he is able to communicate more effectively with improved functional outcomes. For some time now, we have dreamed of getting Luca a trained Autism Assistance dog. We believe it would be extremely beneficial for Luca to help reduce his anxiety and improve his behaviour at home and in the community. When feeling anxious Luca can scream, kick, bite and throw his body around dangerously, with no awareness of safety for himself or other people. When out in the community, Luca is at risk of absconding. He has no road or water safety, which is a great fear of ours. We love going out on family adventures, but it can be very difficult as Luca frequently refuses to get out of the car, or be unwilling or unable to walk any distance without being carried.

We have researched Autism Assistance Dogs, and feel this would be invaluable to Luca and our family. A trained dog would not only assist Luca to feel calm and manage his anxiety, but also assist him to learn daily routines, assist with his communication and social relationships, improve his mobility and improve sleep. Luca has suffered from insomnia since he was a small baby, sleeping terribly throughout the night. We would hope having a therapy dog sleeping with him in his bedroom would  help him to feel safe and secure at night, allowing him to sleep longer and more consistently. This in turn helping him to cope better throughout the day.

Assistance dogs take a long time to train so are very costly to purchase. They cost between $25,000 and $30,000.  We are hoping to start raising funds to cover some of this amount, as the training will take around 12 months (maybe more).  Any donation, no matter how small, will be appreciated. We will be grateful for any assistance you can provide, to help us reach our goal of making our Autism Assistance Dog dream, a reality. Thank you so much.