IP

Please also see our Blog at: Dog for Katie blog

Total collected..$2531
Goal...$18,000

Special Thanks! to our contributors, See them here

Welcome!

Please help fund an Autism Service Dog for Katie~

Look for the article about Katie and our quest to get her a service dog in Toronto's Etobicoke Guardian newspaper!!!
Scroll down to read!~


Our beautiful Katie has Tetrasomy 18p which in addition to developmental delay also causes many health issues,
i.e. Severe Chronic Constipation, Muscle tone issues, Sensory Integration Dysfunction, Fine and Gross Motor delay
and some Autistic like repetitive behaviours just to name a few...
She also suffers from a puzzling recurring condition where she wakes some evenings and gets ill. We suspect seziure or CVS.
Even with these issues our Katie is a happy loving child who goes out of her way to engage anyone with a smile and a "Hello!"

Our fear for her however is she is so very trusting of everyone and has no regard at all for her own personal safety.
Katie would not think that running in front of a moving vehicle, or leaving with a stranger, or walking out of the house in the
middle of the night would be of any possible danger to her.

We have decided the best way to help with Katie's quality of life and safety is to get her a service dog. A specially trained dog who will
guide her, keep her from running into traffic, or leave the house without an adult. A dog like this can also notify us of
Katie's night time illness/seizures. We have hopes and we are told this can bring about a new awareness for her, an independence she could not otherwise have.

This is not a replacement for us keeping a close eye on her, but rather a safety net, a backup, a companion, a tool to increase her independence. And a best friend of her own.

Service dogs cost approx. 18,000 dollars. Please help us make our Katie safe and secure

You may donate to us directly or to our Service dog trainer Wade Beattie with a note saying the funds are for Katie P's service dog at www.autismdogservices.ca.
To donate by Paypal please click the donate button below

Please follow the link here to Autism Dog Services

Wade Beattie - Director

Autism Dog Services

139 Hewat Street
Cambridge, Ontario

N3H 4H2


519-721-1068

Or you may email me directly and I will send you our paper mail address:
katieservicedog@yahoo.ca

Or if you prefer Just sign up for iGive and do your shopping there..iGive.com the stores in turn donate a portion of their sales to our cause!


Wade Beattie is the founder and director of Autism Dog Services. Wade began his career as a guide dog trainer/instructor in 1986 and for the past 8 years has worked with autistic children and their families. He has collaborated with some of the world's leading guide and service dog trainers and was a pioneer in bringing autism service dogs to Canada.

Wade has travelled around the world to work with various service dog organizations in helping to develop their autism service dog programs. He has worked with over 80 families from as far away as Ireland and the United States to provide them with service dogs that offer safety, companionship, and independence for their children with autism.

Autism Dog Services on Google pages.

Donations can also be made directly to the bank to the "Service Dog for Katie" account at TD Canada Trust

Branch # 0193

Bank #004

Account#01935215671

And the Swift code for bank wires: TDOMCATTTOR

For direct donations to our trainer please see his web site or his mailing address below and send payments to the address listed with a note saying the donation is for Katie P's service dog.
Thank you for your time and consideration
Please read up on the following information and consider donating to our cause.....
Thank you for your time..
Lorrine and Gord
www.tetrasomy18p.ca

Committed to enabling children with autism and enriching their lives, Autism Dog Services provides highly-trained service and therapy dogs to children with autism and their families.

Located in southern Ontario, Autism Dog Services is led by Wade Beattie, one of the world's leading autism service dog trainers. With over 20 years of experience, Wade is one of Canada's most respected guide dog and service dog trainers.

Autism Dog Services offers:
* Highly personalized support
* The possibility of training a family's own dog
* A comprehensive follow-up program

Current waiting time for a dog is less than 18 months

http://autismdogservices.ca/

Autism Dog Services

139 Hewat Street
Cambridge, Ontario

N3H 4H2

Inside Toronto Newpaper Article!!

Guide dogs transform autistic children's lives
Photo/IAN KELSO
Katie Peruzzo, 7, plays with service dog Pepsi as mom Lorraine looks on. The family is hoping to get a service dog for Katie, who has autistic tendencies.
Local couple raising funds for service dog for their daughter
By TAMARA SHEPHARD
December 18, 2008 4:43 PM
 Print  E-mail Text
Katie Peruzzo touches the calm black Labrador retriever's face, hugs him tightly, then grabs a pillow and snuggles up with him for a nap.

While the seven-year-old is mesmerized by the year-old pup, her parents share her curiosity for another reason- Pepsi is an autism service dog.

The chestnut-haired girl has many autistic tendencies, such as a pervasive, potentially dangerous trust of strangers, a lack of social boundaries, and extreme sociability.

"Katie trusts and loves everybody," her mom, Lorrine, said recently in the living room of the family's home in The Westway. "She wouldn't think twice about going with anybody. In the blink of an eye, she can be gone. I can't let her go or take my eyes off her."

Katie also has a rare chromosomal abnormality called Tetrasomy18p which, like autism, causes developmental delays.

Autism is a brain development disorder that impairs the ability to communicate and interact with others. A spectrum disorder, autism varies in degrees of severity and impairment.

Recently, Lorrine and Gord Peruzzo, who is an aeronautics technician with DeHavilland, began fundraising to get Katie her own autism service dog to help her remain safe, and to give her some independence and companionship.

An article on autism service dogs in Exceptional Parent magazine, and numerous Internet searches later, led Peruzzo to Wade Beattie, a leading autism service dog trainer with more than 20 years experience.

Beattie founded Autism Dog Services in Cambridge, Ont., which provides families with autistic children with either golden retrievers or black labs selected for temperament, then trained to meet the specific needs of each child and family.

The dogs cost $18,000, which covers the cost of training, vet costs, a comprehensive follow-up program, and lifelong training support.

Volunteers raise and socialize the hand-picked pups for up to 18 months, then Beattie does advanced training with each dog for another five months.

"The dogs provide safety, independence and companionship for autistic children," Beattie said, the day he brought Pepsi to meet Katie and her parents. "The dogs are a calming influence in public places that are highly stimulating like malls and school. Autistic children have difficulty with social interaction and communication. The hope is the dog will bridge the gap with people and places."

Children are tethered to the dog, the leash held by a parent or guardian, to provide independence and improve safety by preventing the child from bolting into traffic.

Safety is of great concern to the Peruzzos. Katie awakens, sometimes ill, two to three times a night, five nights a week on average. Twice, she has managed to leave the house in the middle of the night.

"Katie can never, never be left alone," Peruzzo said of her oldest child. The couple's son, Alex, is six. "It has been seven years since I slept well. I sleep with one ear open. It has been trying."

An autism service dog could be trained to awaken Katie's parents to her stirring.

Beattie has worked with more than 80 families with autistic children, including the Giffords in Ingersoll, Ont. Beattie trained Beau, the family's yellow Labrador retriever pup, to be an autism service dog to their son, David.

The 12-year-old boy is non-verbal and suffers from extreme anxiety.

Today, Beau accompanies David to school every day, and goes with the family on outings to the park, swimming, shopping, even to doctor's appointments. About half of Beattie's placed service dogs attend school with their children.

"The very first day Beau went to school with David full-time, David sat through the entire assembly for the first time," his mom, Kathleen, said in a recent phone interview from her home. "Transitions are very difficult for David, whether class-to-class or recess. Beau removed that for him. He redirects his focus away from the transition and lowers his anxiety."

Beau has opened David's world, and diminished his anxiety about public places, even if the bridge to socialization still awaits.

"It would be great if David didn't have any anxiety. I'd like to see more interactions. It's fine that he's going into public places, but my hope is that it could be social for David, rather than to fulfill a need, like going swimming."

Peruzzo hopes for the same for her daughter.

Grocery shopping could become manageable for the family

with a service dog, Peruzzo said.

"I can't get many groceries because Katie is too big for the cart. If she had a dog, I could push the cart and hold the leash, and Katie could walk tethered to the dog. It would make a big difference in our lives."

HOW TO GIVE

Lorrine and Gord Peruzzo are raising funds to train a Labrador retriever as an autism service dog for their daughter, Katie. The seven-year-old has developmental delays caused by autistic-like tendencies, and a rare chromosome abnormality called Tetrasomy 18p.

An autism service dog costs approximately $18,000, which covers the cost of training customized to a child and family's needs and lifelong support.

To donate, visit the family's website www.tetrasomy18p.ca/katieservice.html or email katieservicedog@yahoo.ca

Autism Service Dogs, Watch this to see how this programs works for special needs children

Guide dogs transform autism care

Black Lab steers boy, 6, away from hazards in first city case of its kind

Josh Wingrove, The Edmonton Journal

Published: Thursday, May 17 2007

EDMONTON - Aidan Papadatos got a dog for his upcoming birthday. His parents got peace of mind.

Five-year-old Aidan, diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, got Leia, a two-year-old black Labrador, last month -- the first service dog trained for an autistic child in Edmonton.

Aidan will be tethered to Leia, who guides him away from traffic and keeps him from going too far from his parents while in public.

Aidan Papadatos and his mother Karyn try a walk with Aidan's new service dog Leia, accompanied by Chris Fowler, co-founder of National Service Dogs.View Larger Image

Aidan Papadatos and his mother Karyn try a walk with Aidan's new service dog Leia, accompanied by Chris Fowler, co-founder of National Service Dogs.

Shaughn Butts, The Journal

"I didn't think he'd co-operate at all, but he did. I was surprised," said his mother Karyn, 32, after Aidan and Leia worked together for the first time this week.

Some autistic children have no impulse control and could easily run into traffic or leave with a stranger, and they need constant supervision, said Lyn Parker, president of the Autism Society of the Edmonton area. "They will run out into traffic, oblivious to everything," said Parker, whose 11-year-old daughter has autism spectrum disorder.

The dogs provide a safety net.

"I think it's an amazing program," said Parker, whose family bought their own dog nine years ago and taught it to help their daughter.

They still have the dog, a part-Labrador.

The dogs give families freedom from worry, agreed Chris Fowler, who founded National Service Dogs 11 years ago in Ontario, and has placed 130 dogs with children across Canada.

"We really look at assisting the family with that safety aspect.

"The parents don't have to have a physical hold on the child, which in turn allows the child to be more independent," Fowler said.

Fowler spent this week with the Papadatos family to help with the transition.

With Leia, who weighs 29 kilograms, Aidan's parents know she'll lie down if he gets too far away, steering him clear of traffic and hazards.

"The safety aspect is a big part of it," said his father John, 42.

The increased independence and safety has already had an impact on Aidan, he said.

"All of the sudden, it feels like this weight has been taken off my shoulders. I hadn't felt that since he was diagnosed. It just floored me (seeing Aidan with Leia).

"It was very emotional. I'm just so thankful," he said.

The family moved to the city from Toronto late last year. Ontario cuts off funding to most autism programs at age six -- Aidan's birthday is next week -- while Alberta maintains government subsidies and school board funding until an autistic child turns 18.

It will take time for the public to recognize the use of service dogs for autistic children, Fowler believes. Aidan and Leia got a rude welcome on their first night out, when Fowler and the family were asked by a restaurant to leave the dog outside.

They didn't, and were able to finish eating after explaining the dog's role. Today, the family will try taking Aidan and Leia to West Edmonton Mall.

The dogs are raised by volunteer families as puppies, and return to National Service Dogs when they're 15 months old.

The dogs are trained for five months, matched with a child and spend a week training with the child's parents before joining the family, said Fowler, who is allergic to dogs.

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