Help Lucas get a therapy dog.

Hi Morgan,

Thanks for your question. A therapy dog is much more than a well behaved pet, he will be trained to pick up on my sons anxiety cues and pre-emptively settle him down before he reaches 'meltdown' which means that life will be a lot calmer and easier for him and for us. It will also be trained to offer him the pressure stimulation that he requires to help with his anxiety and ASD issues as well as being a constant active companion for him when his hyperactivity kicks in and he needs to just burn his energy off. Lucas often gets in to a state that I can only describe as manic and the dog will be a huge asset in helping to calm and manage these states.

As for the assistance dogs, our understanding is that in NZ there is at least an 8 year wait for an official assistance dog and a cost of roughly $50,000. We do not need a dog that is able to go everywhere and anywhere (such as an assistance dog for a life threatening condition like epilepsy or diabetes), we need a companion for our son whom he feels relaxed around and does not expect anything but love. We will be taking the dog anywhere that we can with us, like the beach and playgrounds ect and I am hoping that the dog will be able to visit at school to help other children as well.

I hope that answers your questions :)

Thanks,

Kylie Forlong

Hi there,

Thanks for your questions. The cost to adopt the puppy is so expensive for a few reasons.

The first being the fact that the puppy/dog is a doodle and therefore has the hypoallergenic coat and the intelligence that comes along with the breed. It is also because the blood lines for the breeders (Kiwi Pride Labradoodles) have been proven over 15 years of breeding and the puppy/dog will be picked for training based on it's calm nature and it's ability to learn. The puppy itself is a cost of $3,300.

The other $4,500 is the cost of the training. The puppy/dog will be trained over a period of 4-5 months meaning we won't adopt the dog until it is about 6 months of age. The puppy will be trained by a woman called Wendy who has over 30 years experience working with dogs (training and vet nursing) and used to work and train dogs for NZ Guide Dogs and Assistance Dogs NZ, she now works and trains dogs for Kiwi Pride.

The remaining $200 is to help us purchase the things we need for home.

Here are some links if you would like to look at any more information:

https://www.labradoodle.co.nz

https://www.facebook.com/labradoodle.co.nz/

And our Facebook page if you wish to follow our journey:

https://www.facebook.com/Help-Lucas-get-a-Therapy-Dog-592626231069090/

Thank you so much for your interest in our son and our cause.

Thanks,

Kylie Forlong