Thursday, March 27, 2014

Therapy Dog T-Shirts!

***Read Teo's story here***

I designed this adorable t-shirt on TFund to support therapy dogs for kids everywhere! A percentage of the proceeds goes to A Therapy Dog For Teo fund so please share the link and spread the word!

ONLY $15!!! That's really cheap for a T-Shirt, especially one for such a good cause.

http://www.tfund.com/ATherapyDog4Teo


Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Update on Fundraising!

***Read Teo's story here***

We're at $4,000 everybody! A little over halfway there!

For the totes, we need 20 sold in order for them to print. We're at 12 now so just a few more and I can relax about people getting their product. Buy link is on the right.

We're waiting for the book, Superdogs for Super Kids, to come in the mail so we can proof it. Then that will be published for sale. 100% of the profits go to Teo's therapy dog training.

Good work to everyone who's been helping! We are so grateful for the support. Teo is so excited that people care about him so much to share our links and donate to this cause.

A special shout out to Gerri and Susan, who've taken this on as their mission and used their connections to try to get us this dog!


Saturday, March 22, 2014

Meet Lark!

***Read Teo's story here***

We're one step closer to a therapy dog for Teo. We've been matched!

Meet Lark.







Lark a 1.5 year old Giant Schnauzer. She was in training to be a protection dog but broke her leg as a puppy. She fell behind in her training for protection but is the gentlest, sweetest dog, according to the trainers. They say shell make a perfect service dog for a child.

We can't wait to meet her!

Superdogs for Super Kids is a children's photo book I wrote and it's on its way to publication. All royalties collected go straight to the training of Lark. I'll post when it's available for purchase.

Thank you again for all the support. Another update on fundraising is coming soon. A special shout out to Gail, Jody, Sorcha, and Julie!




Thursday, March 20, 2014

First Update! A Dog Has Been Chosen!

***Read Teo's story here***

We have our first update today, March 20th.

A dog has been chosen! I can't wait to show you pictures and share her story. She's a very special dog, which is perfect for our very special kid.

Her name is Lark.

As for fundraising, we've reached $2,300 so far and sold 5 tote bags! This is amazing progress, especially for such a short time. Ultimately we need $7,000 to cover the cost of Lark and all the training. Anything extra will go toward travel expenses when we go get her.

We are so thrilled and blessed from all the support we've received so far. We still have a long way to go so keep sharing the links if you can! For the tote bags to be printed, we need to sell at least 20 so if you haven't picked one up yet, you can do it here. They make great gifts!

https://www.booster.com/atherapydogforteo

I'm also working on a beautiful photo children's book about how dogs help kids. That should be available for purchase online in print form next week.

Hopefully, tomorrow I'll have some pictures of Lark to show you! I showed Teo a video of Lark and he's so excited. He also said her name is cute :)

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

About Service Dogs for Autism

***Read Teo's story here*

This isn't the organization we're using to train Teo's dog but it's a great little snippet of information for how autism and therapeutic service dogs work. Whenever I watch this stuff, I tear up. I'll post the good ones I find here :)


Buy a Tote, Train a Dog!

***Teo's story below***

What does everybody need? A tote bag!

We've teamed up with fundraising site, Booster, to provide tote bags with an adorable logo for you to buy for only $20! A portion of the sales goes toward our fund, A Therapy Dog for Teo!



Please consider sharing the link on the site with your friends! Thank you in advance for all your support!

Updates on Teo's dog coming soon!

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Meet Teo


This is my son, Teo. He is a sweet, loving 7 year old boy who loves cars, animals, and music. Because of circumstances beyond his control, he has static encephalopathy - irreversible brain damage that effects his emotional, behavioral, social, and academic learning. He is also on the autism spectrum.

Teo loves animals, especially dogs! But most dogs have trouble being loved by him. He is sweet but can be very intense. He so badly wants to cuddle and play with them! A while ago we heard about how certain breeds of dogs can be trained to provide specific services to kids with autism, brain damage, and other disabilities. We were so excited to explore this way to help our son.

Because of his limitations, it can be very difficult for him to remain calm and appropriate at home, school, and in public. Some things a therapy service dog can do for him are:

~ Distract him when he seems agitated
~ Provide sensory input when he's feeling hyper or unsettled
~ Give him a boost of confidence training, grooming, and walking him/her
~ Be a conversation starter with peers
~ Be available to cuddle when he's sad or calming down after a meltdown
~ Sleep with him at night to alleviate his fears and anxiety
~ Interrupt unwanted behaviors and perseverations

We are committed to all the work necessary to make this happen for our son. We are desperate to give him more tools to enhance his quality of life and daily functioning. As you can imagine, buying and training a dog for him comes at a high cost. When I announced the decision to friends and family, I got such an overwhelming response of support. People wanted to know how to help.

We feel blessed to have this little boy in our lives and we are thrilled so many people care so much about him! So we've set up a fund people can donate to in order to help pay for the cost of the dog and its training. 100% of the money raised goes to the foundation A Therapy Dog for Teo. If you would like to donate, the link is on the right hand column.

Our goal is to raise $7,000 for the cost of the dog, two months of boarding and training then another month of specific training here with Teo. If we get more than $7,000, that will go toward travel expenses in picking up the dog.

We will post updates as we go along, as well as video and pictures of the dog we were matched with.