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Thursday, January 05, 2012

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Angie

why does everyone keep bashing the huskies?
http://siberianservicedog.wordpress.com/why-i-chose-the-siberian-husky/

K9Sasha

Dogs for the Deaf, in Central Point, Oregon, trains and places autism assistance dogs. I believe they are free of charge to the families. Is there some way you pass this information along to the families involved? I feel so awful for them.

Patty Dobbs Gross

Hi,

My name is Patty Dobbs Gross and I serve as Executive Director of North Star Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicating to partnering children on the autism spectrum with well bred, specifically socialized and carefully trained assistance dogs with children who face social, emotional or educational challenges. In the decade of our incorporation as a nonprofit we have placed over 100 autism assistance dogs successfully with children on the autism spectrum all over the world.

I want to mention that siberian huskies are not a good choice for a child with autism, as their breeding does not lend them the necessary qualities to help them relate and communicate gently with a child on the autism spectrum. (Golden retrievers are much better suited to this work temperamentally...we breed several sound lines of goldens that are superior temperamentally for work with children with autism.)

There is great danger in this field if children with autism are partnered with a dog that does not have the correct temperament to work with them...improper or nonexistent socialization of the dog slated for service work is also dangerous for the child. This is a service rich field, and it is not just about the training a dog receives or the facility they grow up within to keep the placement safe as well as effective.

Disappointment of the children and families let down by Animals for Autism and Pepsi's Refresh Everything Giveaway is only the tip of the iceberg of danger here; children with autism are at heightened risk of a dog bite due to their at times erratic behavior and sometimes loud/inappropriate vocalizations, and this is the reason why this work of creating autism assistance dog placements must be taken seriously. In this line of work, great care must be taken to first do no harm, and to award a substandard for profit organization/individual $50,000 to work with families that are among the most vulnerable among us reflects a decided and deliberate lack of corporate responsibility that I hope Pepsi and Global Giving become committed to correct.

My heart goes out to these disappointed families and I challenge Pepsi and/or Global Giving to offer North Star the money that Animals for Autism is wasting; we will then be happy and able to serve these families the way they were promised.

Kind regards,
Patty

Patty Dobbs Gross
Executive Director
North Star Foundation
20 Deerfield Lane
Storrs, Ct 06268
www.NorthStarDogs.com
[email protected]
We help children find their way.

Cindy Ludwig

Paws with a Cause, headquartered in Wayland, Michigan is a well established organization that trains and places assistance dogs, including dogs for children with autism.

Angel Cauffman

I own and operate OnQ Siberians Service Dogs( www.OnQSiberians.org ), I have been around since 1994.I was recently made aware of this story, because someone thought that I might be this company. I am shocked and horrified, and I would like to reach out and help at least some of the families affected by these horrible scam artists. It breaks my heart to know that these children have been carrying around pictures of dogs that they will never bring home. My heart goes out to the parents, who thought that they would have help with their child. A dog to bring their child comfort, to distract them from hurting themselves, to ring an alarm to let the parents know that their child is hurting themselves, a dog to prevent their child from wandering away, to tell on them as they try to wander away, and if all else fails a dog trained to help them track their child if they do in fact wander away. Now those parents know that they are back to square one and some have probably given up hope. This is truly sad. If you are reading this, and you are one of the families affected by this nightmare, contact me. My email is [email protected] or you can reach me on FaceBook: http://facebook.com/onqsiberians . I hope that they catch these people and make them pay for what they have done. But for now, I hope that enough Service Dog Providers can step forward and offer to help these families in some way.
** I would like to point out that above it is mentioned that Siberian Huskies are a typically a bad choice for Service dogs. I raise and train my dogs for this work from birth. I am the only breeder that I am aware of in the world, in the history of the breed, to train Siberian Huskies successfully to be used as Service Dogs. All of the Service Dogs that I place can work off leash and are good working dogs.
This is Spooky: http://www.dogster.com/dogs/360252 . This Dogster page is maintained by the child’s mother, who Spooky cares for.

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