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K–9 Country Inn knows how to ‘Play for Pawtism’

August 31, 2013   ·   0 Comments

Do you remember your first dog? The one who followed you around, kept a watchful eye, begged you to play? Well, K-9 Country Inn in Alliston is helping four-year-old Caden to have that same experience by training his service dog, Hunter.

Caden and Hunter will quickly become best friends as the years go by.

But it’s not just a regular old story. Caden has autism and Hunter’s job will be to help his owner feel comfortable and safe.

“Autistic children have problems with sensory, touch, feeling and new situations, so what we’re finding when we get the dog with the child, it actually helps them cope with new situations,” said Laura MacKenzie, owner of K-9 Country Inn and dog trainer. “When Caden is with Hunter, he calms down, new situations aren’t as scary to him and if he does get upset, he can always come back to the dog. That’s our goal; we always want him to come back to the dog. He’s like a home base.”

Obtaining a service dog, however, is a very expensive and costly thing, so that’s where ‘Play for Pawtism’ came from.

“Play for Pawtism was born out of my daughter’s desire to help her nephew Caden obtain a service dog,” said Caden’s nana, Joy Collins. “She and a group of people at K-9 Country Inn got together and have started this fundraiser.”

Once Hunter, a two-year-old yellow, was found, training started right away.

“Service dogs are very expensive and to offset those costs, we have this fundraiser.  This is the very first one, so it’s a very exciting day for us,” Collins added.

As a dog trainer, MacKenzie said she was open to the idea of helping out Caden right away.

“Caden’s aunt and uncle belong to our Working K-9 program and one day they were telling me about how they were struggling finding a dog for Caden,” she said. “So I offered my services and I started looking for a dog that would be suitable. I said if we found something, I’ll offer my training to help Caden.

“Part of the training is the dog has to be calm, has to sleep with Caden and has to go everywhere. That’s the hardest process at the start.”

The event was open to all dogs and their owners, who bought food at the barbeque and raffle tickets to help raise money. People are also able to donate on the Play for Pawtism Facebook page.

Organizers said there were close to 100 people coming in and out throughout the day, pretty good for their first fundraiser thus far.

“It takes a lot of time and a lot of volunteers to do this,” MacKenzie said. “A lot of people have been helping, so anything that will help us with equipment, time is huge. I have worked with the autism program and we have had some puppies come to our classes.”

MacKenzie recognizes she and her team are helping to provide a very important service and hopes to keep doing it even after Hunter has completed his training and leaves with Caden.

“We want Caden to be able to go out into the public, because that will only make it a better world for him. So what we try to do is find things that Caden can do with Hunter on a sport level.”

For more information on K-9 Country Inn and how you can get involved or donate, visit the ‘Play for Pawtism’ Facebook page.

By Jeff Doner

 

 


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