This is Slider. Slider is a happy, fun loving kid who was recently suspected with having autism at 2 years
old.
Slider is now almost 5 and has been officially diagnosed. As he gets older, some of his struggles are
getting more difficult to work with. Some of his challenges or autistic tendencies are also becoming
more dangerous. This past summer while his mom was breastfeeding his baby sister, Slider went
outside. His mom heard him go out the door, but he had always stayed in the yard so she didn’t think
much of it. A few minutes later the doorbell was ringing, but Slider also liked to go outside and ring the
doorbell so again, his mom didn’t think much of it. Then Slider’s older brother started talking through the door and his mom knew this was not one brother talking to another. She went to the door and there was a lady there asking if she knew the blonde boy in the ditch half a mile down the road. After that, Slider’s parents made sure they had chain locks to put on every door and kept them secured when needed.
Also this past summer, Slider and his family were all playing when his dad suddenly jumped up, grabbed Slider, and started giving him the Heimlich. Slider has low oral muscles and tends to overstuff when eating. He had done it before where he threw up whole pieces of food so his parents knew he wasn’t always chewing everything thoroughly, but he had never choked before. After this happened, his parents try to keep things out of reach, but as Slider gets older he is more able to climb things and open things so no only is it impossible to keep the food out of reach, but he’s started to try to unlock the chain locks as well.
The final straw this summer was Slider’s tantrums. As he got older, his tantrums became more intense. As these got worse, Slider’s mom started researching behavioral aides or therapies or anything to help Slider. That is when they found 4 Paws for Ability. The characteristics and abilities of the autism assistance dogs were exactly what Slider needed. Not only that, but Slider LOVES dogs.
His first daycare had a dog and that dog was his best friend. Any time he sees dogs he gets super excited. His hometown had a dog show and Slider would go around and hold on to leashes with other owners. He just loved having that leash and dog to hold on to. In fact, he was throwing tantrums and being completely uncooperative at that show until he went to hold on to a leash. Then he stood quietly watching the rest of the show with his hand on the leash.
A service dog would do wonders for Slider. It would help him in every area he needs assistance with and it would help his parents feel safer knowing there would be an extra alert if Slider was choking or wandering.
Any help or assistance in getting to the $20,000 goal to get a service dog is so extremely appreciated. Thank you for taking time to read Slider’s story and even consider donating to his dog.
Words can’t express how grateful we are.
Contribute to Slider’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.