Hello everyone and thank you for taking the time to learn about Vivian and hopefully donate to our fundraising goal.
Vivian is a 5 year old who loves to adventure and explore, some of her favorite places are Target, Starbucks, and our local parks. She is also a HUGE FAN OF CLASSIC ROCK! I know that surprised us too! As Vivian got older me and dad started noticing some things that make Vivian a little different from neurotypical kids her age. At first it was minor things like avoiding eye contact, delayed speech, but then it started turning into huge meltdowns that were not regular toddler tantrums. It leads to her self harming, eloping, and having anxiety attacks when over stimulated or during simple transitions. Soon the specialist would confirm the conclusion we had suspected that Vivian has autism. With Vivian’s diagnosis we felt relieved that we now understood how to help Vivian and provide her with the tools and help she would need to navigate life.
As Vivians sensory issues progressed we have seen her anxiety and reluctance to do her favorite things like going to the park and exploring the world around her progress as well, and while Vivian loves going to the park or her favorite store the noises and crowds can be overwhelming and scary for her and lead to severe anxiety attacks that involve self harm and overstimulation meltdowns that last through the night. She even had a hard time sleeping at night and has trouble finding the confidence to do things she loves doing.
As a parent it can be heartbreaking to have to watch your child go through this and not have the tools she needs to be able to go about her day to day life.
A service dog for Vivian will be trained for tethering so Vivian and us can feel secure while out in public if she ever forgets to stay with us or tries to bolt if scared by her environment, help with behavior redirection, a calming presence, deep pressure, a paw her leg, and a boop with nose and hugs and snuggles to help redirect her attention, this can also help Vivian feel safe in her own bed and sleep better throughout the night. Her service dog will also be able to track her if she gets lost and wonders off as well. Most importantly, a service dog will be a friend when Vivian feels isolated due to not understanding social cues with kids her own age or other kids not understanding Vivian due to delayed speech and repetitive behaviors.
With your help Vivian can enjoy all the things kids her age do and be able to love her favorite places! Vivians fundraising goal is 20,000 we believe through the amazing power of community and human kindness we can meet this goal.
Contribute to Vivian’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.