Please help Isaiah's and his family make his dream come true and raise enough 4 Paws for Ability to train an Autism Assistance Dog specifically for his needs.

30

Isaiah is a sweet and loving 6 year old boy.  He lives at home with his 3 siblings, both parents and his pet tortoise, Hector.

Isaiah's father, is an Active duty Air Force member and is regularly away from home on behalf of his country.  Every few years Isaiah and his family are required to gather and move to a new area to start life all over again.  Isaiah struggles daily with Autism, a disorder that results in severe anxiety, panic attacks and behavior disruption. The military life style things harder for Isaiah to adapt with the constant changes in location and routine. After many incorrect diagnosis, Isaiah was diagnosed with Autism around his fourth birthday.

After their latest move to Ohio, Isaiah’s family was introduced to 4 Paws for Ability, a non-profit organization that provides service dogs to those in need, and how this great organization helps children with autism like Isaiah. Many of the services that a 4 Paws trained service dog can provide for Isaiah are things that no human, not even his mother can provide.

His new buddy will be trained in several different tasks to help him through his daily activities.  The service dog will be trained primarily to provide behavior modification and support.  Isaiah’s new friend will be able to identify when he needs to go into action to help out, and will also be trained in specific commands that can be given by Isaiah, or another family member.  To help reduce Isaiah’s anxiety, the dog will use several techniques to comfort him in overwhelming situations and disrupt unwanted behavior.  Not only during the day, but 4 Paws dogs are trained to help their human to sleep better by providing deep pressure to help them self regulate during the night, giving their owners a higher quality sleep.  Isaiah’s dog will be trained to track his individual scent. This means that if he were to ever get out of his mom’s sight his new furry friend would be able to find him before he can unintentionally put himself in danger. This will provide his mom with peace of mind and could even save Isaiah's life.

It’s amazing to think these are only a few of the tasks that Isaiah’s dog will be trained to do! Isaiah’s dog will also act as the perfect social buddy to help him learn to interact with more people. This could drastically improve his anxiety, speech and communication skills. His service dog will be a perfect best friend and help him gain independence for the future. 

Isaiah’s family has joined forces with 4 Paws for Ability, a 501 c3 non-profit agency that specializes in training quality task-trained service dogs for children with disabilities. The family has committed to raise $17,000 of the $34,000 it takes to train and place a dog with Isaiah.

Please join their campaign here and help give Isaiah a new best friend!

32

To see photos and follow Isaiah's journey visit his

Facebook page: 4 Paws 4 Isaiah - A Quest for an Autism Assistance Dog