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Joy Harrison with support from Clare Herring raised £2,464 from 80 supporters
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Closed 19/02/2020
Weʼve raised £2,464 to Purchase and train an Autism Assistance Dog for the Harrison boys.
- Funded on Wednesday, 19th February 2020
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Story

Nigel & Joy have 5 boys. Sam (15yrs), Ben (13), Luke (10), Josh (8), & Zac (4). Three children have Autism. Zac the youngest is non verbal, and struggles socialy and emotionally. He is easily overwhelmed and finds busy environments difficult to cope with. As a result he will run away, and this is dangerous when near roads or rivers, or if Zac became lost as he can not communicate or say his name.
http://www.helpfulhounds.org have agreed to train a dog to assist Zac and his brothers. The dog will be life changing for their family as It will help give the children, particularly Zac, confidence and independence and provide a safer environment helping them to feel more confident when going to new places.
The Autism Assistance dog will have unlimited access to public places enabling the whole family to do simple things such as shopping, which is currently a struggle. The dog wears a special harness which connects it to both parent and child, and acts on instructions from the parent while the child is encouraged to walk alongside the dog. The dog will offer greater independence to the Zac and parent, whilst ensuring he is safe and unable to ‘bolt’ if he becomes stressed or anxious. ‘Bolting’ behaviour is also combated by training the assistance dog to automatically sit should Zac attempt to run off. A fully-trained autism assistance dog will help change behaviour by Introducing routines, reducing bolting behaviour, interrupting repetitive behaviour, helping the children cope with unfamiliar surroundings.
The Harrison Family wish to thank in advance everyone whom has supported their family. Any additional funds raised will be shared between Helpful Hounds to train another assistance dog for another family, and carersupportwiltshire.co.uk as they are exactly that, and have been totally fantastic for their family!
Updates
19
4 years ago
Joy Harrison with support from Clare Herring
4 years agoOur new fundraising page which goes direct to Helpful Hounds is in the link below. This allows gift aid to be sent as well! Thank you for your continued support! Alfie is amazing he has had a huge impact on our family. https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/joy-harrison7
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4 years ago
Joy Harrison with support from Clare Herring
4 years agoAlfie is doing really well with his training... its been a challenging summer going through his teens but we are progressing in the right direction! He has past his first exam and we are working towards his second one in a few months. We seem to be on track.
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4 years ago
Joy Harrison with support from Clare Herring
4 years agoAlfie had a visit from Helpful Hounds this week, and he impressed them with his progress.... I have absolutely no experience of dog training & I still feel like a new mummy!!! It's really fun and rewarding teaching him new tricks and watching him grow and develop. I am reassured that Alfie on track and is doing really well! We are really proud of him! We attend Fun for dogs for our basic puppy training and Helpful Hounds will be back to see us again in few weeks.
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Joy Harrison with support from Clare Herring started crowdfunding
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Supporters
80
Anonymous
Feb 19, 2020
Good luck with the training. The Greasley's
£10.00
Ruth Hoare
Dec 15, 2019
Nigel and Joy Small gift from us that we hope goes some way to bring Alfie to your Family. A dog is not only a friend for life but brings great pleasure to any family. Merry Xmas Kevin & Ruth
£100.00
Anonymous
Oct 14, 2019
£19.00
Anonymous
Oct 1, 2019
Elizabeth Bailey
Sep 29, 2019
Well done Isabel and Polly. An awesome effort for an amazing cause.
Anonymous
Sep 29, 2019
Jane - Child Okeford
Sep 27, 2019
To go towards ( only a tiny bit tho!) Isabel Andrews/ W's efforts to help the cause. Good luck to all.
£5.00
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