We are based in Northwich, Cheshire and work throughout the North West to provide high quality dog training and consultation services
Elliot is a young man aged 23 who is autistic, Elliot suffered daily with crippling levels of anxiety and sensory overload. As a family we struggled to go out to even familiar places as Elliot’s anxiety was so high. It was in desperation that I started to research Assistance and Emotional Support dogs, and realised quickly that the few charities I could find, either had very long waiting lists, or would not take a person of Elliot’s age or could only provide a fully trained Assistance dog which would have cost us thousands of pounds that we simply could not afford.
Ripley is Elliot’s dog. With the support of the family, he pays for all her basic costs, takes care of her, trains, grooms, feeds, and walks her. We soon realised that being out and about with a working dog only brought good and positive experiences, not only for Elliot but for the whole family. Some of the benefits were unexpected and joyful.
As Elliot's mum, I am constantly asked by people we meet how we got our dog. I wanted to help other people and I also wanted to understand more about how dogs learn to help our training progress as well as it possibly could. Since then I have completed an Advanced Diploma in Canine Behaviour at the British College of Canine Studies and am now a qualified Canine Behaviourist Consultant. Elliot has worked equally hard at training classes to become a competent dog handler taking Ripley through the Kennel Club GOLD Award himself.
We have learned from personal experience the difference a dog can make to an Autistic family and have reflected this in our training programme. I am also a qualified teacher of young people with SEND and have put together a training programme that is designed to give the right amount of support and training in a way that can be understood and accessed by people who have high levels of anxiety and sensory needs.
Elliot and I have pulled together our skills and knowledge and used this to write our Emotional Support Dog training programme. It takes these needs into account and we have built in support and adapted training methods to ensure that programme is planned in small incremental steps with regular 1:1s and weekly check ins. Every family and dog has its own training plan tailored to meet the needs of the individual dog and family.