Service Dog Update

Hello friends! It’s been quite a while since we updated and we have some news. We have some good news and some not as good news. We’ll start with the “not as good news” first. We received a call last week from Wilderwood, the non-profit that is training Atticus’ service dog. According to our contract, we should receive the dog by July 2015 (2 years after signing our contract). However, there is going to be approximately a 60 day delay and we will hopefully receive our dog in September, 2015. As we have explained in previous posts, the cost to train a service dog from birth is $20,000-$25,000. The non-profit asks the families to raise $12,500 and they come up with the rest through fundraising, donations and grants.

However, after the recent recession, their donations did not bounce back like they had hoped. In addition, they also lost 2 grants for 2015 (one expired all together and one changed their mission statement). Over the past month, they have had to make several cuts and lay off some of their trainers until they can restore their funding. They have 2 grants already secured for 2016 and they are currently trying to raise enough funds to make it through 2015. If you are able and want to help, they have a go fund me page where you can make a donation. These donations go directly to the non-profit to help train service dogs for families. 

They are still training dogs – things are just moving at a slower pace than they had planned. My heart goes out to other families and children that are further down the pipeline than we are… There are several families that have raised their funds and expected a 1 ½ year wait but now have a 3 year wait for their service dog. Please remember these families in your prayers as they wait for their helper to be trained. Also, please, please pray that Wilderwood is able to raise the funding they need for 2015 as quickly as possible so that they can rehire the trainers they lost and get back on track to get these dogs trained and to the families that need them so desperately.

Okay – onto the GOOD NEWS! The good news is that there are three dogs currently being trained for Mr. Atticus. They are all doing very well and should all graduate to be a service dog (there were 5 but 2 didn’t make the cut and will likely be adopted out as therapy dogs). One of these three dogs will be Atticus’ dog. Their names are Linus, Jonas, and Mosyus (pronounced moe-sy-us). Two of them are Golden Doodles and the third is a Lab Mix. They are all very smart and doing very well with their training. If all goes as planned we will be able to go in September for our training and bring home Linus, Jonas or Mosyus. He will be fully trained and ready to start his duties as a service dog. Atticus is so excited and he prays daily for his dog. 

As soon as we get a firm training date or any other news, we will update the blog. Again, please keep the nonprofit, families and dogs in your prayers. We have included the go fund me link below. Thank you all so much for your prayers, love, thoughts and support!  

Love, RaDonna, Justin and Atticus

Wilderwood Go Fund Me Link