Help Sydney Receive A Legitimate Service Dog

Hi, my name is Sydney and I was the winner of the LOVELOUD and Golden Healer Service Dog Contest and won a service dog live in front of thousands of people in Salt Lake City at the LOVELOUD Festival... or so I thought. I applied for the service animal competition (Service Dog Contest Entry) because I have cardiac and autonomic nervous system disorders (POTS, Inappropriate Tachycardia, suspected Vasovagal Syncope and EDS) that cause me to pass out several times per day. I went from an active childhood to being unable to stand up without passing out, sometimes passing out upwards of 15+ times per day. Thankfully, the frequency of episodes have slowed down to only a few times per day, but this has still remained an incredibly difficult condition to live with. Despite this, I am a hard worker and at 21 years old have completed four bachelor's degrees and never earned less than an A- in my entire time at ASU (Four Diplomas in Four Years Article). Although these achievements are exciting, this year I was most looking forward to receiving my Golden Healer Service Dog. A service dog can alert to cardiac changes, perform fainting response, retrieve fallen items, find others for help when I am passed out, perform deep pressure therapy, bracing, and a multitude of other life-changing tasks. While my doctors always recommended getting a service dog as one of my best chances at regaining my independence, service dogs from reputable training programs can cost anywhere from $20,000-$50,000 and are not covered by health insurance. I first received the promise of a service dog at LOVELOUD (an annual charity festival hosted by Dan Reynolds) live on stage, after winning the service dog scholarship. I remember bawling my eyes out knowing that although I will always be disabled, I was finally given a step towards independence and a better future.

Fast forward to this year, Mike Carlson (Founder of Golden Healer Service Dogs) reaches out to let me know that they have a service dog ready for me! His name is Hero and he was just returned to Golden Healer from a puppy raiser that was training him for her MS. He assured me that the dog was returned because of lifestyle changes happening on the handler's end and that Hero was a “go-getter” and fully ready for service work. My husband and I traveled to Salt Lake City (financially out of our own pocket), prepared for our week-long training with my new service dog, Hero. Upon arrival, I met Hero and he was the cutest dog in the world. But my excitement soon wore off when we realized the dog was not prepared nor had the temperament for a service dog. The dog barked, did not respond well to verbal commands, bolted and pulled me out of an Uber, was reactive towards dogs, jumped up on people, could not walk on a loose leash, and could not sit under an 8-person table without being dragged under because of his fear of small spaces, among many other behaviors that were not acceptable for a fully trained service animal. For example, since the dog was unable to perform basic skills like a down-stay, the dog would be unable to fly on a plane, a necessity for a service dog. In addition, his uncontrolled barking habit would make it so any establishment, such as a restaurant, hotel, or airline could legally ask me to leave without service because service animals must be in control at all times and disruptive behavior can result in losing public access rights. Overall, the core requirements to satisfy Hero as a service dog were not met, namely performing strong basic obedience during public outings, being undisruptive (not barking or being distracted by other animals), and performing tasks that would help mitigate my symptoms.

For the full extent of the training experience, please read the entire written statement in the Google Drive located here (Google Drive Link with Full Story and Videos). The Google Drive also shows videos from the training, warning messages from a previous dog trainer at Golden Healer, and happy moments from the LOVELOUD Festival when I thought my life had changed forever. Within the statement, we even reached out to an experienced service dog trainer of 7 years, Loren Pardo to do an assessment of the dog and her thoughts are reflected within the document. She talked about how “every piece of fur on that dog’s body is stressed” and overall will never have the temperament to be a service dog. On top of all of this, Golden Healer Service Dogs is still associated with Coco Berthmann (Coco Fake Cancer Diagnoses Admits To Fraud Article) and has her around vulnerable disabled populations (she was at both LOVELOUD and training sessions). Please read the full statement and videos within the Google Drive for the full picture of what has happened.

I am not only out for the financial expense of this trip and the LOVELOUD trip, but also the dream that I would be receiving a task-trained service dog that would be able to help me with my disability. I am asking for your support in helping raise funds for a legitimate service animal to truly change my life. While this has been a turbulent experience emotionally, now is the time to make the bad story have a good ending. With the help of Scotch Corner Standard Poodles and service dog trainer/handler Loren Pardo, I have been matched with a beautiful black standard poodle named Tank (born on 07/25/23). The dog costs an estimated $15,000 including the price of the dog, years of training, food, gear, etc. I have set the GoFundMe goal to $15,500 to cover the transaction fees set by GoFundMe. This dog will be trained for tasks for my specific disability (such as cardiac alert, fainting response, retrievals, light mobility help, etc) and will be temperament tested and reevaluated throughout the entire program. The service dog will essentially be raised at Disney and be prepared for my lifelong love of theme parks. Tank will be placed permanently with me in approximately 1.5-2 years. A service dog is one of the only ways I can reclaim my independence and be confident in moving forward with all the goals I have. Without this help, I will continue to be afraid of being alone and worried that a fainting episode could end in an injury that is much worse than my current condition. Any help is greatly appreciated and your generosity can be an actual step towards independence and a better future! Please share and get the word out!