Support Dogs is a national assistance dog charity dedicated to transforming the lives of children and adults living with
the most challenging of conditions. It provides three main services:
Autism assistance dogs to provide safety and a more independent and inclusive life for the child and their family.
Click here to watch a short video of Charlie and Bailey’s story
Seizure alert dogs for people with epilepsy to give a 100% reliable warning up to 50 minutes before a seizure.
Click here to watch a short video of Lynn and Dougal’s story
Disability assistance programme to train the pet dog of someone with a physical disability to become their assistance
dog. Increasing independence and enabling a better quality of life. Click to watch a short film about Kathy and Maisy
Support Dogs does not have its own breeding centre. Instead it trains dogs from a wide variety of backgrounds including
rescue centres and unwanted pets to create life changing partnerships.
The charity is reliant entirely on voluntary donations and we have a huge demand for our work. Every 10 hours Support
Dogs receive a plea from a family who needs our support.
We ask if you can help Support Dogs transform more lives. For more details visit
www.supportdogs.org.uk or phone 0114 261 7800.
Some Super Support Dogs Fundraising ideas
Tell your customers
Support Dogs can provide you with posters, magazines, collections tins and even merchandise for you to sell to raise
funds for the charity.
Challenge yourself or embarrass your boss
CVS staff are already signing up to raise funds through challenging walks and runs across the UK. From hikes, to climbing
Ben Nevis or Skydiving there is something for everyone. Visit www.supportdogs.org.uk for more details or contact
[email protected]. Of course challenging the practice manager or clinical director to do something
like this might be even more fun.
The Great British Bark Off
For those who prefer a more sedate challenge why not organise a cake bake with your colleagues or a tea party with
your clients. Include a raffle or tombola and turn it in to an opportunity for clients and staff to get together to raise vital
funds
Clever Paws pub quiz
If you are more of a night owl then a pub quiz is a great way to raise funds.
Support Dogs can provide you with quiz questions and answer sheet. You raise
funds for teams to enter and running a raffle on the night.
“If he is sick or sad, Minta is there without
being told. Minta is the best medicine”
Susan’s son Jacob has a severe form of autism. He struggles to communicate or express feeling
in a way that is understood and often gets very upset while out in public. His and the life of his family changed for the better when
Minta, an autism assistance dog trained by national charity, Support Dogs, began to live with them.
Mum, Susan tells us “Jacob was a very lonely little boy, with no friends and who rarely smiled. It was horrible to see how isolated he was.
For the family it was difficult as so much had to be regimented, even just leaving the house was almost impossible. When Minta entered
our lives the change in Jacob was phenomenal. Now when we need to go to the shops or have a family day out Jacob is not stressed
because Minta will be there. She has opened up his world.
With Minta he will even happily stand and talk to people. I can’t put into words how incredible this is to watch and see him growing in
confidence everyday. If he is sick or sad, Minta is there without being told. Minta is the best medicine”
“I just feel so lucky! It wouldn’t have been possible for me to
be alone with my baby if it wasn’t for Support Dogs”.
Angie has epilepsy and, before Support Dogs, had very limited independence knowing that she could unexpectedly have a seizure
at any time, Epilepsy is the most common neurological illness with over 600,000 cases in the UK.
Angie tells us “I didn’t go out because of the fear of having a seizure. I had to rely on other people. but when Support Dogs trained
and provided Venus as my seizure alert dog everything changed. It gave me independence and transformed my life. Venus is
trained to give a 40 minute advance warning of a seizure, giving me time to go somewhere safe and private”.
The biggest change to Angie’s life came when she gave birth to her daughter. ”If I didn’t
have that warning about the seizures then I would defiantly need a carer to help look after
my child and I didn’t want that”.
“Alfie has completely given me my independence back”
Judith’s life was turned upside down when she was diagnosed with a progressive neurological condition Cerebella Ataxia. This
condition slowly affects your coordination, speech, eyesight, and swallowing and muscle tone.
She explains “I found even getting dressed was too much trouble some days, so much so that I could spend a week without leaving
the house. Judith live changed when she met Alfie who had been abandoned at the local animal shelter. She hoped getting a dog
would motivate her to get up and dressed every day to look after the dog and start living again”. Immediately Alfie made a
difference to Judith’s life!
“Alfie was traumatised by his bad start in life, so it was a real challenge to train him and make him trust me. Eventually I found
Support Dogs and they helped us both as their disability programme train pet dogs to become your assistance dog. With their support Alfie has completely given me my independence back. He will pick up objects, get help when I am trouble, even help me get
undressed. I can go anywhere on my own and know that he will look after me. “