Andrew is a 15 year old young man who has Autism and Epilepsy, among other medical conditions. He finds social situations and being in crowds very difficult and stressful. This has meant that he is very rarely able to visit busy areas without having extreme stress symptoms leading to internal shut down's.

The Waggy Dog Project (http://thewaggydogproject.com) has been very kind in providing Andrew with a lovely Golden Labrador, which he has called 'Hope'. They will both require training and Andrew will potentially become a trainer of Autism Assistance Dogs. This means he will have a career helping others with first hand experience in some of the difficulties endured by those on the Spectrum.
In order to have 'Hope' trained, she and Andrew will have to go through specialist training but it's 'Hope's' training that will be costly. At the end of her training, 'Hope' will be a fully qualified Autism Assistance Dog as well as Andrew's best friend which will give Andrew the independence and confidence to achieve a quality of life we never thought he would have. Like other assistance dogs, Hope will give Andrew the life line to a future we never thought he would have.

STV News have already highlighted the fantastic work Waggy Dog Project are doing and Andrew appeared on STV Five Live discussing how the Project was helping. If you would like to be part of the adventure for Andrew and Hope then please help by donating and passing onto friends who you may think will appreciate the story.

Thank you