Dylan's Service Dog

   Welcome everyone to Dylan's fundraising page for his service dog! Your support will be a life changing act not only for Dylan but our family as well.  It is important for you to know any support is greatly appreciated and our family will be forever greatful.  4 Paws for Ability is a nonprofit agency that enriches the lives of children with disabilities by training and placing quality, task-trained service dogs with families like ours.  Once Dylan's goal is met and his dog is chosen for him he will be trained specifically for his needs.  The staff  will review videos submitted by us of Dylan's daily struggles. 

      Let me begin with telling you how blessed we are to be Dylan's parents and experience his innocence, love, and overall happy spirit! I want you to know these great qualities far outshine the ones some would consider negative.  Dylan has been in therapy since the young age of 9 months.  He has had numerous doctors, therapist, and evaluations then most typical kids his age.  At 2 years old he was given multiple diagnoses: 

Autism Spectrum Disorder

Developmental Delay

Hypotonia (weak muscle tone)

Intellectual Disability 

Non-verbal 

We do not allow these diagnoses to dictate Dylans life, but they do present daily struggles.  Providing Dylan a service dog will increase his independence and provide assistance to our family.  As an active family that enjoys going places Dylan has  had to endure new, loud, and often times crowded places. These places put him in a state of panic.  Confused and scared he is unable to comprehend our words or gestures we use to help calm him. Screaming, crying, hitting himself and biting his finger are his way of telling us this is hard.  As you can imagine we get a lot of unwanted attention.  Dylan's service dog will be trained to provide comfort and to help calm him. Eventually allowing him to enjoy these places with his family. 

      As much as Dylan's team has prepared him, he does not understand dangers most kids his age do.  He does not react to our responses accordingly in areas such as parking lots, sidewalks, stop signs  etc. However we do many things to keep Dylan safe, riding in a shopping carts or a stroller.  Although they work for the most part, our 8 year old son has outgrown these. Dylan's service dog will come in trained to be tethered to Dylan and act as an anchor when needed and as a guide when needed.  This will allow Dylan independence and safety in many places we frequent. 

     For some of you that know Dylan know his love for all animals. He loves being on his grandparents farm. He attends equine-assisted therapy weekly. I truly believe animals pull him out of his little world and I have no doubt that his service dog would be of most value to our son.  4 Paws for Ability requires extensive training to help children like Dylan and this is incredibly expensive. That being said it can give Dylan and our family a normalcy to our lives. Dylan's daily struggles might not go away but a service dog can help make  them fewer and far between.  

     Please consider in helping to fund the training of a service dog for Dylan.  Any donation is greatly appreciated! Thank you! 

   Sincerely, 

Mikayla,  Manuel, Dylan and Zane Salinas