Page Title

Page Title

Give your photo a caption
here

Your donation will help many children receive service
dogs. The following is an example of some of those
on our waiting list.

Faith is a 10 year old girl from a military family living in Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
When her father was stationed there in the summer of 2006 her world was turned
upside down when she was unable to go to school. Attacks of unknown origin would
overcome her and cause her to lose control and have complete and embarrassing
meltdowns in public and at school. She was diagnosed with Mood Disorder, Bipolar
Disorder, and severe anxiety. She had to be home schooled for first grade and she
started seeing a doctor. After taking medication she was finally able to go back to
school for second and third grade. She was very successful, earning student of the
month both years and finishing in the top five of her grade in reading counts, a
program to track how many books the students read. She also won the Science Fair
in third grade and was able to take her project to the county show. Unfortunately,
towards the end of third grade the medication stopped working and she was
hospitalized for three weeks. She has since been unable to return to school and is
now being home schooled for fourth grade.

Faith loves to go to school and her inability to attend school is one of the issues that
continues to fuel her anxiety. She is so afraid of not being able to control her feelings
or herself at school again that she starts having anxiety attacks on the way to school
or even in class. Her doctor is the person who first recommended a service dog. She
said a couple of her patients were able to completely come off of all of their
medication once they got a dog. Her parents were unaware that psychiatric service
dogs even existed. Faith hopes that when she gets a dog that it will help her return to
school and give her the courage, support, and unconditional love she needs to leave
her home, her safe haven, and go out into the public like other children.

She tells us everyday how she cannot wait until she gets her dog.

Hi, my name is Jacob. I am a sweet and loving 10 year old boy who wants nothing
more than to make those around me happy and proud. From the time I was a baby,
my family knew there were some things about me that were unique. The first thing
that they noticed is that I had severe separation issues, way beyond the average
child. My mom got really good at doing EVERYTHING while holding me. Another thing
that they noticed was that I needed very little sleep, even as a newborn. By age 5, I
was having times where I would only sleep a few hours a night for days at a time. My
mom would wake up and I would be pacing around the house, trying to “get my brain
to slow down”. Since I was a toddler, I will get very frustrated, mostly with myself,
have frequent mood swings, issues with impulsivity, distractability, and often am very
hyperactive. Around my 6th birthday, my body started moving without my “permission”.
My head would twitch, my tongue would click, and my finger would “have” to touch
things a certain number of times. This was beginning to be a problem, so the
pediatrician decided that it was time for me to take medicine. Things were not really
getting better, actually new problems were starting. With ANY change of daily routine, I
would have extreme anxiety. If there was a substitute at school, if the schedule was
changed due to an assembly, if someone new was sitting close to me, I would end
up at the school nurse’s office. They usually thought I was having an asthma attack,
because I was breathing really fast, my oxygen levels were low, and I could not calm
down and breathe. My mom would come and once we left, I would calm down. At this
point the pediatrician sent me to a special doctor, a psychiatrist. He diagnosed me
with early onset bipolar disorder, ADHD, OCD, and Tic Disorder. Everyone was very
sad that I was going to have to deal with all this, but excited that we finally had a
diagnosis. This meant they knew what was wrong and could try different things to
help me. I started taking a couple prescriptions, and they seemed to help a lot. The
tics were almost completely gone most of the time, I started staying asleep the whole
night, and I was able to handle the stresses of the day with much less frustration. Life
has been getting much better. I started working with another specialist, a
psychologist, who helps me deal with all these issues. Just when it seems like
everything is going to be okay, my moods will shift, and we will be in a “bad place”
again. Some days I am able to interact with others at school, play soccer or baseball
(which I love), and achieve at things I attempt. Other days I can’t even get out of bed,
many times sleeping 40 out of 48 hours. I often can’t stop myself from making
sounds that are bothersome to others, this makes it hard to make friends. I
sometimes can’t control my thoughts of worthlessness, and thinking that my family
would be better if I was not around to be a constant concern for them. This makes my
parents really sad. After trying lots of different medications, the doctors say that I have
mixed episode bipolar disorder. This is unfortunately the hardest type to treat
because there is rapid cycling between depression and mania. After being told that
even with medication and therapy, most people with mixed episode still really
struggle throughout their life, we started looking into a psychiatric service dog, and
were blessed to be put in touch with Little Angels Service Dogs. The things these
dogs can help me with, give me and my family such hope for my future. I was lucky
enough to meet some of the little Angels dogs, and now more than ever, I am looking
forward to this life changing addition to my family.

Logan is a sweet little 6-year-old boy who is immediately loved by everyone he meets.
He was only a toddler when he was diagnosed with Autism, and it was just this past
year that he has begun to use words and sign language to communicate. As with
many children with Autism, Logan is extremely intelligent and has learned to get
around all of the safety and security features in his home and will wander away the
moment his parents turn their backs. When he is in public he is faced with other
challenges and will become overstimulated by crowds and quickly responds through
anxiety and meltdowns.

His family understands the very real dangers and challenges presented to Logan
every day, and when they heard about Autism Assistance Dogs they knew this was
the help that could change Logan's life.

Logan's Autism Assistance Dog will be trained to search for Logan by scent in the
event that he wanders away from his home, very similar to the acts performed by
search and rescue dogs. The ability of his dog to find him quickly is essential for his
safety, and he will be back safe and sound at home long before a search party could
even be organized.

Logan's dog will also be able to guide him through crowded public places with the
use of a tether connecting Logan directly to the safety of his dog's vest. The tether will
be attached to a special harness that Logan wears which will keep him from darting
into parking lots or escaping his parent's grasp. Where children with Autism often
have a very difficult time being led by their parents or caregivers, they will easily and
willingly follow their dog through the most crowded of public places.

Logan has also responded very well to Deep Pressure Therapy in the past, and this
is also a task that his service dog will be able to perform for him in times of anxiety
and distress to help calm and support him.

Not only will Logan's dog assist him through day-to-day trials, but will be a social
bridge, inviting others to ask him about his dog to stir further communication and
language building.

Thank you for helping Logan receive his future companion and best friend!

Help Support Children with
Psychiatric Disabilities Today!