Bella's story

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I want to tell you all about Kyle's Autism service dog. Her name is Bella, she is a 2year old choc Lab that we got from a rescue in Saskatchewan called Smokin gun dog rescue. From the moment I layed eyes on this girl, I knew she was the one!! The one to change Kyle's life :) I know it sounds a little crazy to already have 6 kids and 2 dogs, but something in me told me that we NEEDED to get her!!
Now that she was officially ours, I knew that I needed to find someone to train her. I emailed a ton of places that might be able to help with her basic training and get her to a level that she would be able to listen to all basic commands. Problem was..I couldn't find a place to do what we needed. I was so frustrated at the end of that day because I knew that this dog had the ability to become an amazing dog with just a little bit of work.
I decided to take a break and googled the story of the little boy in Brandon MB who's service dog was denied access to his school. it was in this article that I found the name of MSAR. so, of course I googled them lol I picked up the phone and made the call that would eventually change our lives. I was greeted by a soft spoken man (I know know his name is Scott) and he was the only person that listened to all my concerns and the reason I needed a service dog that would save Kyle's life. We live in a small village that has a penitentiary with an unfenced shooting range, lime quarries that surround our town and thick bushes that Kyle could get lost in. These are the things that make Autism so dangerous!!
Did you know that most people with Autism wander..and drowning in the #1 cause of death due to wandering?! Before we got Bella, we had to have extra locks on the doors, we have windows screwed shut and we fenced the back yard so Kyle couldn't get out...but even with all this, Kyle was still wandering 3x a week!!! Now, I can handle Autism, the meltdowns, screaming and crying for hours, not being able to wear certain clothing and having a strict routine, especially in the morning, but I can NOT handle wandering!!!
Scott talked to me for at least an hour about our needs for Kyle and our despite call for help to keep him safe. He said that he would talk to the head trainer but couldn't make any promises. That same day, I got a call from Captain George Leonard, master trainer from MSAR. He agreed to come out and meet me and Bella and talk about what we could do. I was scared shitless cause this man was my only hope. He came to our house the next day, walked up the sidewalk and said "you must have made a real impression on Scott cause he yelled at me" I now know that Scott is a very quiet man that doesn't get upset about anything, so when he raised his voice at George, he knew that he needed to listen. While we were standing in the front yard George asked me where the shooting range was (prob cause he wanted to know if I was making this stuff up) I pointed to its clear view from our front yard and his response was "holy shit, are you kidding me" lol I said NO and that was the beginning. He came 2 days later to pick up Bella for a week to see if she had what it took to be a service dog. I then got a call the very next day from him and he was already completely in love with her :D By the end of that first week he KNEW that she was going to be perfect!!!
In my eyes, Bella was already perfect, but I needed George to see that too. He called me everyday to brag about how well she was doing, how she reacted to the other dogs that he has in training, how she did with his horses (she was scared of them at first but by the end of the first day, she thought they were just big dogs) he took her out to expose her to little rodents cause we always have a hamster or rat or some little thing in the house. When she came back after that first week, I had already noticed a HUGE difference!!!!
The way this training works::: Bella lives at both our house and George's house 50/50 Kind of like shared custody lol she will go for 2-3 weeks for training and then home for 2-3 weeks. This step is VERY important to keep the bond between Kyle and Bella strong!! There was only 1 time that George kept Bella for very intense training for seizure detection because we've been suspecting that Kyle is having ssilent seizures. On Bella's first day back, she woke me up 8 times that night and took me to Kyle's room. This went on for a few days and then I knew that something was wrong, so I made an appointment with Kyle's Dr to get him checked. Kyle goes for his EEG on Jan. 27th to check for seizure activity. I have learnt to trust Bella when she's trying to tell me something cause this is what she's been trained to do!!!
A couple weeks ago Bella was acting a little crazy and wouldn't listen to me, this was completely out of the norm for her, I tried over and over to correct her but she insisted on being right with Kyle and touching him. She then started to paw at him and layed her head on his lap. It was about 2 mins later that I figured out why she was acting like this. I was because she had sensed that Kyle was soon going to have a seizure. This was the biggest and longest seizure that Kyle has had. She stayed right with him through the whole thing and waited for the seizure to be completely over before she even moved :)

Another thing about Bella is that neither George or I have been able to get this girl to bark!!! She's been with us for almost a year and I've heard her bark 4 times and all of those times is while she was playing with Delilah (our other dog and another story) But, 5 days ago Bella went to the front door and whined then ran to the back door and let out 1 loud bark, which got my attention cause she never barks. turns out that she was telling me that Kyle had gotten out of the house and was outside without me or her. It was -25 outside and he was only wearing a jacket, nothing else. He could have frozen to death in such a short time with our Manitoba winters. This girl is just AMAZING. I know that she was sent to us for a reason, Earl didn't think so at the time, but now he see's the improvements that Kyle has made by just having her here with us :)

Now, its just to get the school to understand how important Bella is for Kyle. I got an email from Kyle's principal back in November telling me that Bella is not allowed into the school. I don't understand WHY she's not allowed in, but as it stands right now, they only see her as a pet dog. I have filed a human rights complaint against the principal, the school division and the board of education. I have also hired a human rights lawyer to handle all the legal stuff but everything takes so long. I'm hoping within the next 2 weeks that Bella will be able to at least walk kyle to school and help him transition into class and pick him up at the end of the day. This is my story on Bella but I will always be posting about her. She is a VERY important part of our family and has saved Kyle's life more times then I can count already!!

An Introduction to our family..First post.

My name is Dusti and I am an Autism mom. I am married to Earl who is the only man that could ever put up with my crazy ways lol. I have all the same struggles that most moms have, with 3 teenage daughters, who give me lots of grief but are also all amazing girls!! Jenae is our adopted daughter who has been in our life since she was 7, she is now a beautiful, smart and caring 17 year old girl that has a true love for her brothers. She works with disabled people in her school, on all the leadership teams in school and goes over and above what most teenagers do. Brook is my step daughter, she is 16 and is the quiet one in the family. She enjoys drawing, reading, walking the dogs, riding horses and hanging out with her sisters. She is smart, loving and has a gentle sole. Marissa is 15 and the loud mouth in the family. She is more like me then I like to admit lol She is my first born, my first true love and the biggest pain in the butt. She is a true teenager that loves hanging out with friends, watching movies and hates to be alone, but like the other girls, she really does have a true love and understanding of the struggles the boys face everyday. Then there's Braden. He's 11 and has always been a little "different" He is hyper, always into something and getting himself into trouble. He was finally diagnosed with Aspergers when he was 8. He is also diagnosed with ADHD, Dyslexia, learning disabilities and anxiety disorder. He has the gift of math and has been collecting coins for years. He is very private and he and his brother have a real understanding for each other. Kayla is 7 and is the second mommy in the family. She is funny, she loves to laugh, enjoys painting, color and likes spending time with me. She is a bit on the quiet side and I believe she is also on the spectrum. She is quiet in school and is always the teachers pet cause she likes to help with everything. She doesn't get along at all with Braden but plays the mommy role with Kyle. Then there's Kyle, he's 6 and is the baby in the family. He was born very premature with a lot of complications and spent weeks in the NICU. He has always been delayed in everything. I always knew that there was something "wrong" but trying to get the Dr to understand was like pulling teeth. I finally insisted that he was refereed to the child development clinic for an assessment. He was first diagnosed with PDD-NOS, developmental delay and speech delay when he was 3. Kyle then regressed and still wasn't speaking so he went back to CDC for a follow up appointment and was then rediagnosed with moderate functioning Autism, global developmental and adaptive delays, ADHD and anxiety disorder when he was 4. With Kyle being more affected with Autism, he has been in all the therapies. eg..ST, OT, PT. I chose not to do ABA. In 2011 is when we made the decision to get a service dog for Kyle. It was a choice we made after Kyle wandered from the house and made our first and only 911 call to have to search for him. His service dog's name is Bella, aka Baby B. She is a chocolate Lab that has eyes the color of gold. She is not only beautiful, but she is smart too. In the short amount of time that she has been a part of our family, she has done amazing things for Kyle. We also have Delilah who is in the training process of becoming a search/tracking dog to be able to find Kyle or Braden if they wander off. This is just an intro to the Richardson gang and I hope you take the time to get to know us and how our whole family lives and deals with Autism.