A Service Dog for Kristina

OCTOBER 1st: Doggo is home!

1900 miles, 32 hours on the road, an epic roadtrip - Valiant has made his way to his forever home with Kristina. We thank you SO much so far in this journey with us and we'll be keeping you updated!

Find Valiant on Twitter at @ValiantTheAuss.

All donations moving forward will help keep Valiant healthy and happy and go directly towards his care and training!

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Hi!

I'm Dakota (also known as kotaKat!), and I'm here to help fundraise a service animal for one of the closest people in my life that's helped me for the better, and I'd like to help give back to them.

Who's Kristina?

You probably know them better by their furry name: QuyetPawz! You might have also seen them lurking around on Twitter, flailing on Twitch, or even in the Purple Box Fort Discord or Telegram communities.

The snow leopard...

... and the human behind it!

QuyetPawz is a founding co-chair of CanFURence, an annual furry convention in Ottawa, Ontario. They led the convention from December 2015 in its inception to getting it well underway through 2019. Under their leadership, they helped many people grow professionally and socially as we all came together under one roof to help put on a fantastic event and raise tens of thousands of dollars for various charitable causes (such as Ottawa Stray Cats rescue and Courageous Companions) throughout the National Capital Region.

I met Kristina at CanFURence 2018, and ever since, their stories, friendship and overall support have been amazing to my own mental health and those around us as we converse together in the Purple Box Fort, a small but growing community of folks that look out for each other, almost like a big chosen family.

Personally: without Kristina, I might not be here today. I struggled in the months leading up to meeting Kristina, and I finally met someone that genuinely cares about people. A true friend. There are so many words I'd love to keep gushing, but: long story short: they saved my life.

Trauma is tough, and it impacts daily living. Kristina struggles daily with ADHD, complex PTSD (also known as C-PTSD), bipolar mood disorder, fibromyalgia, and a herniated lumbar disc. Kristina is a survivor of domestic abuse and sexual assault.

Why the service dog?

Meet Valiant.

Kristina's done a lot of research into this and spoken with a variety of experienced trainers and owners -- determining that a great option for their mental and physical well-being is a service animal like Valiant. Their doctor also agrees that a service animal would be of great benefit to them. With past personal experience in dog handling and training, as well as the connections via the breeder's community, along with a friend who’s certified in trick training – they'll be training Valiant for a variety of service dog tasks - ranging from physical mobility support to mental health support type tasks.

A breeder was selected for the service dog - an Australian Shepherd. We chose Gemfire Australian Shepherds located in Alma, Arkansas as they have successfully placed several dogs in working service homes. You can learn more about the breeder here!

Let's talk logistics. Why the fundraiser?

Kristina is legally disabled and receiving disability support from Ontario - which isn't a lot. Many people on the Ontario Disability Support Program are struggling in their day-to-day living financially, and Kristina's no exception.

In the meantime, they've been working on 3D printing various things and gearing up to try to sell them to help supplement their income. A savings plan is being built to help ensure funds are available for animal care after the fundraiser is complete.

The fundraiser goal we've selected covers...

⦁ The breeder's fees.

⦁ Veterinary expenses for the next foreseeable months (and possibly years!)

⦁ Travel expenses for pickup (more below)

⦁ Food, toys, and all the things we need to keep the doggo healthy for quite some time.

⦁ Service Dog equipment (harness, vest, patches, boots, and more)

Logistically, I'll be handling pickup this September. I will be donating my time and effort to a trip that has been coordinated with the breeder to bring Valiant home to love and train! When we travel down, Valiant will be almost 5 months old, and the folks at Gemfire will already have been training him, so he'll be starting on the right paw from day 1.