Assistance Dog Support for Emily

Hi there, I am Katie, twin sister to Emily. Emily is a I4 years old girl who enjoys playing basketball, baking with me and playing with any and every type of dog. But life isn’t as simple as that. She was born with GDD [Global Development Delay] a disability which can manifest itself in various ways with various extremities. For her, she’s one jumbled mix of many disabilities such as autism, ADHD, heightened emotions, mobility issues, cognitive issues and many more. Each at a varying degree of severity. To help cope with this she would like to apply for a dog once applications re-open with Assistant Dogs New Zealand Trust. This is a not-for-profit organisation, a charity which helps support kids like her across Aotearoa by providing dogs to help enrich the lives of New Zealanders living with a disability. It costs $75,000 NZD to train one dog, which takes over 2 years of training, before they can be paired and matched to a child. Because of this there is an overwhelming number of children that need help from the charity, including Emily, and it may take a long time before we are matched to a dog.

I am hoping to raise more funding so that all kids like my sister are given the life changing opportunities to have a better childhood. We are setting a goal of $15,000 to support Assistant Dog New Zealand Trust in their work of providing dogs to children like Emily and other disadvantaged kids. Reaching out to anyone and everyone that can support, please do. Thank you for reading.