Thank you for taking the time to visit Rey’s fundraising page for a service animal through 4 Paws for Ability. Rey is the sweetest and happiest 5 year old boy. His favorite color is red and he loves going to the beach. Rey loves traveling and being with his family. His favorite characters consist of sonic, dinosaurs and pokemon! Rey loves being outdoors especially during the summer. Rey is currently a kindergartener.
Rey was diagnosed with early signs of Autism by the age of 2. Rey has been in services consisting of speech therapies and occupational therapies since then. Rey was completely non verbal up until the age of 3. We have had a lot of hardships along the way. Rey does not have safety awareness. When Rey becomes upset he will go into uncontrolled episodes in which he will have extreme meltdowns. In addition to running away, Rey has a history of eloping, especially during the school day or when in public settings, such as outings to the mall or zoo. Rey has a lot of anxiety especially when transitioning or being around new people, loud noises or unfamiliar surroundings.
Rey is continuing to have a lot of difficulties with eloping. It can be very scary as he will run
towards busy streets and other areas of safety concern. He is a very fast runner. The aspect of
Rey not understanding dangers is our biggest concern. Our second biggest concern is that
Rey’s education is being affected by these episodes. Rey recently transitioned schools because
he kept running from staff and his transitions were going poorly. They did not have the
resources to support him. He now attends a level 3 setting kindergarten in which he has a para
that follows Rey throughout his day and offers one on one support. It can take Rey up 2 to 3
hours to transition into a classroom. Rey’s quality of life is affected by the difficulties of
transitions, noises, unfamiliar surroundings and safety unawareness.
Our goal with 4 paws for ability is to have a trained dog who not only prevents eloping episodes,
but also stops them in its tracks. Being an anchor for stability for Rey as well as being another
set of eyes that has awareness for him. Additionally, the goal is that when our service animal
notices signs of Rey beginning meltdown episodes that he is able to relieve Rey’s anxiety and
stress by comforting him and assuring Rey.
A service dog from 4 Paws for Ability costs between $40,000-$60,000 to raise, train, and place
with a family. We are responsible for $20,000 of that cost. We appreciate any help we can get.
Thank you !
Contribute to Rey’s dog below
Training a service dog to meet our child’s requirements can be very costly. On average it costs between $40,000-60,000 to raise, train, and place a service dog at 4 Paws for Ability. While 4 Paws for Ability fundraises to help cover a significant portion of this cost, families are tasked with raising $20,000 of that amount or $23,000 if receiving a poodle, doodle or papillon. We hope that we can receive assistance from our beloved family and friends to help make our service dog dream a reality.