We are in the process of launching Pawsitve Squad Ltd, a very special not for profit dog training company whose primary aim is to improve the lives of young people aged 2 to 18 with a mental, developmental, learning or life limiting disability.

I've been a dog owner and trainer for several years and always had an interest in working with people with special needs so ran support classes for disabled children as a sole trader alongside obedience and agility classes. The customers i worked with saw a siginificant improvement for their child and family as a whole but the majority of people who enquired about our classes couldn't afford our classes. So i began trying to find ways i could make classes more affordable and accessible.

In 2016 i gave birth to my daughter 16 weeks early and my life turned upside down. I was suddenly faced with raising a disabled child. I quickly realised just how emotionally and financially draining it was. Ever since my daughter came home i've been trying to use my dogs as much as possible to support her and with fantastic effect. I had to find a way to deliver this type of training to other people. i was seeing the benefit in my daughter and other customers and so Pawsitive Squad Ltd was born.

The Pawsitive Squad Ltd is a collection of three programs:

- The Pawsitive Support Squad which offers training to support young people aged 2 to 18 with mental, developmental, learning or life limiting disabilities through weekly classes, one to ones, a buddy up scheme for non dog owners and visiting team for children in residential care setting, hospital or to assist with therapy programs. The Support squad aims to decrease the impact of the childs disability on their and their families lives by helping reduce social isolation and discrimination, promoting communication, independance, inclusion and development, building confidence and decreasing emotional distress.

- The Pawsitive Training Squad which offers puppy training, obedience and behaviour modification for the general public. The profits from the Pawsitive training squad go towards the Support Squad which helps keep our Pawsitive Support Squad costs low for customers.

- The Pawsitive Hero Squad which is a team of volunteer dog owners who help with the buddy up scheme or join the visiting team, representatives who help promote and fundraise for us and the research students who use anonymised data to help research the efficacy of animal assisted interventions.

We are launching our services next month but desperately lack the funds needed to make this a real sucess. The first £350 we raise will go on start up costs and the following £350 we hope to raise will go towards funding equipment and training for the Pawsitive Hero Squad.

For more information on Pawsitive Squad Ltd please go to www.pawsitivesquad.co.uk