All Ready For Sassy!

Two more days and counting! We have everything we need. Here's Jack displaying Sassy's stuff:

We got a "Vittles Vault" for Sassy's food and we poured the food in today. The food, Canidae, is what she's been eating in Connecticut and North Star recommended we keep Sassy on this food. It's pretty fancy-pants food as we can only get it at Natural Pet Northwest Store! (Sorry Aunt Kris (who works for PETCO))

Sassy's dog crate is set up in Jack's room. Here's Jack showing off his new set up.

As recommeded by Aunt Kris, we got a ped bed from Costco so that Sassy has a spot downstairs where she can relax. It makes the kids smell like pine chips.

We also have a bunch of cool dog toys and treats that Aunt Kris and Uncle Mike sent up from San Diego. So we are all set to have Sassy on Saturday! We are all very excited and can't wait to meet her.

What are the benefits of an Autism Service Dog?

We often have people ask us why did we decide to get Jack a service dog. Many people only know of seeing-eye dogs for the blind or assistance dog for people with physical disabilities.

In a nutshell, the benefits of having an autism sevice dog are plentiful! Sassy will eventually be trained to hold an "extended down" when Jack is having a melt-down to help calm him. Most people's first reaction when a dog sits at their feet is to pet the dog. It's been shown that the act of petting a dog is very calming and somewhat theraputic. As you read in the story below, it definitely works for Jack.

Also, North Star's "Service Dog in Training" vest that Sassy will wear says: "Please ask to pet me" to encourage people to ask Jack to pet his dog and initiate conversation with him. It will help him interact with the general community who would otherwise just walk by him.

Because autism often makes children socially awkward, Sassy will be as Jack's special friend. Someone who he will always be able to count on being there for him without judgment and without the need for traditional social interaction that is needed by his peers. Since Jack doesn't have "friends" (in the same way that Vanessa does anyway), he will at the very least, have Sassy.

All other general benefits of having a pet apply too. Although there are many other benefits, I just wanted to focus on the ones that will make a huge difference in Jack's life. For more information on the benefits, visit: http://www.northstardogs.com/autism.shtml.

Four days and counting...

Jack has been fairly good lately. He hasn’t had many melt downs and can usually be “talked” out of getting upset or into doing something he doesn’t particularly want to do.

However, today, Jack woke up from his nap in a particularly bad mood. I can always tell when he wakes up in a bad mood because he immediately starts whining about every little thing in a deep, guttural whine. He asked me to put in a VHS Thomas movie into our main TV and I complied because I had to start making dinner. Vanessa asked me if she could watch a movie on our portable DVD player (in the same room). Normally, this solution prevents a fight over the TV. This time for whatever reason, it really upset Jack. He wanted to put a different Thomas DVD in the portable DVD player and watch both movies at the same time. Obviously, this is unacceptable and unfair for Jack to monopolize both TVs and I refuse to give in to that sheer and blatant selfishness.

I asked Jack to pick which movie he wanted to watch. He chose the DVD, so I proceeded to stop the VHS Thomas movie and inserted Vanessa’s choice. Jack immediately started to ramp up to “melt down”. I started to negotiate with him and say that it was his choice: pick a movie and let Vanessa have the other TV or a time out (this generally works for him). He continued to ramp up and refused to share. I gave him one more chance to make a choice, but he refused to share. So, I brought him to the time out chair and he continued to ramp up further and quickly. By this time, although it had only been a short period of time, I was losing patience because of the blatant selfishness and unrealistic demands he was displaying—even he knew that taking up both TVs was not fair.

I was cooking dinner and had to step away so that I wouldn’t burn dinner. He started throwing the throw pillows off the chair. I internally ramped up and could feel myself losing my temper. But as I turned to go to Jack again, I caught a glimpse of the life-sized, stuffed golden retriever we got to prepare Jack for his service dog. I ran and grabbed it and started to bring it to Jack. By this time, Jack had gotten off the time out chair and was running towards me full speed ahead (he was that mad). I dragged both the dog and Jack back to the time out chair, which only made him unravel further. As soon as I got Jack sitting, I said: “Pet Sassy! Pet her now!” Jack hesitated for barely a nanosecond to process what I was telling him to do, then started to pet her head. Not hard, just deliberately.

A remarkable thing happened. Within about 10 seconds of him starting to pet the dog, he stopped crying and yelling. I could see on his face that the act of petting the dog had distracted him enough to just take a breath and calm himself down. I couldn’t believe how fast it worked and that it worked with a stuffed animal. He stopped petting her and I told him to keep petting her and he complied. He then looked me in the eyes and then hugged me without saying a word. I asked him if he was ready to share and be a nice boy and he nodded his head “yes”. I told him he could go, but he had to take Sassy with him. So he dragged the dog with him and sat down and watched his movie.

This entire episode transpired in only about 5-10 minutes. I was in awe. Just think, if he was this receptive with Sassy the stuffed dog, how incredible having Sassy the real dog will be for him. Sassy will be here in 4 days and I am counting down every second…