‘A dream come true for many families:’ 8 autism assistance pups are born!

A gorgeous new litter of eight pups has been born!

And they're not just any pups - the furry ones hail from the Cork-based Autism Assistance Dogs Ireland. The animals are the national charity’s very first litter of puppies and are Golden Retriever/Labrador crosses. They are currently with volunteer Puppy Foster Carers across Munster, who will bring them up for the first 12 months of their lives. The dogs will eventually be assigned to families free-of charge to help autistic children. The programme was initiated two years ago to tackle the five-year waiting list for children with autism who need a highly-trained assistance dog. CEO and founder Nuala Geraghty said: "These dogs are life-changers for the children and their families. As our charity relies heavily on volunteers, we urgently require funds to support the puppies in their journey to become highly-trained assistance dogs."

The charity says it costs €15,000 to provide a fully trained dog to a child with autism. AADI relies solely on donations, receiving no funding from the government to breed, train or place these assistance dogs.

With its new breeding programme, AADI now hopes to train and place 20 dogs a year with families who have children with autism.

To date, the charity has trained and supplied 27 assistance dogs, along with 19 companion dogs to children with autism.

And while an autism assistance dog’s primary role is to keep the child safe, they also offer additional benefits such as providing companionship and reducing stress and anxiety.

Nuala added: "This puppy breeding programme is a huge step in helping us to provide these dogs to children with autism. For the first time, we have the ability to breed our own pups which will dramatically increase the rate at which we can provide assistance dogs to children with autism who have been on the waiting list for some time.

"Receiving one of these dogs would be a dream come true for many families."

AADI will receive a minimum of €3.25 for every €4 donated by texting ‘autism’ to 50300.