The Lions Foundation of Canada Dog Guides began in the 1980’s where they began to support Canadians with visual impairments. Since then, the foundation has grown to include a total of 6 programs: Canine vision, Hearing, Seizure Response, Service (formally known as special skills), Autism Assistance, and Diabetic Alert dog guides.
In 2014, our family welcomed Kadence, an autism assistance dog guide into our family to support our daughter, Bella. You can read about our journey here.
It has been 4 years of growing independence for Bella’s physical, social and mental well-being:
- Bella attends intensive behavioural intervention therapy, public school, and is able to travel on a plane to Florida with Kadence by her side.
- Bella can participate in new activities and learning environments such as playgrounds, birthday parties, and playdates at ease with her peers as Kadence gives her the emotional reassurance she needs.
- Bella can walk independently without wandering away while holding on to Kadence’s yellow handle as she leads our family through our most successful place, Ripley’s Aquarium.
- Bella is able to sleep through the night with her blanky on one side and Kadence cuddling her on the other.
For #AutismAwareness month, we were invited with the Lions Foundation of Canada to share our knowledge and experience with an autism assistance dog guide. I was excited to be part of a CBC Kids information clip with ‘The Question Machine’. In this segment Tony, Bella, Kadence and I answer a submitted question about service dogs.
Here are the upcoming air times (EST) on CBC:
Fri April 6 @ 9:27
Sat April 7 @ 10:27
Sun April 8 @ 6:26
CBC Kids is known for their educational games, videos and quirky fun facts. Petie and his friends: Charlotte, Rhys, Kai and Keegan are most familiar with the CBC Kids shows as they never fail to educate children across Canada about animals, art, geography, and science. Thank you to the Lions Foundation of Canada and CBC Kids for this great experience. Bella was able to be in her 'celebrity zone' during the taping with Kadence by her side, while holding on to her favourite brush!
