My Canine Companion is a charity that trains assistant dogs for children with autism and other disabilities. Most dogs are placed in families with autistic children from birth and others are placed later at about 1 or 2 years. The main function for assistant dogs is twofold, partly to allow the child to have a normal free but safe childhood and partly to allow the parent to carry out the day to day activites. These would otherwise either be more difficult or not possible. Families with autistic children have to adjust the day to get things done.

The dogs are the trained to stand where the family/parent is and to mind the child safely. It is attached to both the child and parent. The dog is trained to respond to commands from the parent. Children with autism lack a sense of danger and with the attachment the parent has the confidence that the child is safe. As autistic children "bolt" parents have to hold the child. This is more difficult with older children. You could say also the child with a dog has the freedom of not being controlled by the parent - this allows them to explore / achieve potential otherwise not possible.

While with families, the dogs are brought to all locations by a parent. Shops, coffee shops, schools, holidays, playgrounds, bus / train, cinema, airport, sports days, loud streets etc. They are brought with the family wherever they go.

Training days with other dogs and other parents are held to ensure the level of obedience is maintained. The dogs at 18 to 24 months then go for intensive training period (2-4 months) away from the family. The dog returns as a fully trained assistance dog. The cost of the training is €5,000 to €10,000. Most of this cost is during the intensive training period and the cost of classes throughout the year throughout the country. There are almost 100 dogs currently in training changing the lives of families. The charity does not receive government funding (does receive some national lottery funding).

Our dog is Elliott (born September 2015), he has 6 beautiful siblings around the country. He is a labra-doodle. They all have names that begin with the letter E. Our autistic son loves him to bits - enjoys wrestling him and enjoying his company. He also talks to the dog sometimes. Our boy has very little speech and anything that assists this is appreciated (autistic children do not receive HSE speech therapy or occupational therapy unlike non-autistic children).