How Charlie (the Service Dog) Came To Be

4 years ago, a dog entered our lives and has changed it for the better. To the outsider, it may not look like he has done much, but we have seen the difference.
img_2516Charlie is our son D’s Golden Retriever Service dog. He was trained by Arctic Paws for Service in Alaska. He spent the first 2 years of his life training for the job he has now. They didn’t know what kind of a disability he would help serve so they trained him in all kinds of things and from the first moment we saw him he stole our hearts.
I started hearing about Autism service dogs and what a great difference they can make for people with Autism. I had been extremely resistant to getting a new dog as our last dog had been a disaster and I did NOT want to repeat it. But the benefits of having a Service Dog sounded like they were pretty awesome.
An example of some of the things we discussed having Charlie of for D was interrupting his door slamming, (At that point in time he LOVED slamming doors repeatedly.)  and helping to keep him calm and by my side during shopping excursions so he wasn’t screaming and running up and down the aisles the whole time.

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D and Charlie on their way into the church.
What was really interesting is not so much what Charlie had to do for D, but D’s immediate response to Charlie. Charlie never had to interrupt his door slamming because D immediately stopped doing it once we brought Charlie into the house.  He had also been sneaking downstairs to eat all the sweets in the house. This stopped the first night we brought Charlie home.
Not quite so immediate but slowly a huge improvement, shopping became bearable.
Our main church meetings were an exercise in supreme patience. They would find me literally dragging him out of the chapel due to his kicking, screaming, biting and hitting. D would be set off within minutes of sitting down. Once we got Charlie and started bringing him to church it was several years before I had an issue with him at church again. Charlie goes under the pew and when D can’t handle things anymore he crawls under the pew and pets Charlie until he’s ready to come out again. It has been truly miraculous.
In the past year or so D has started taking Charlie to school with him. D has plenty of kids talking to him now and he is readily accepted because everyone loves Charlie and wants to know all about him. As social deficits are one of the main issues of Autism, this is an area that is usually pretty difficult for him. Charlie helps bridge that gap.
Charlie doesn’t solve all D’s problems, but he mitigates them.
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D and Charlie at school

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