As Christmas and the holiday season approaches, the team at Dogs for Autism would like to take a moment to thank you for your incredible support throughout 2024. This year has been filled with heartwarming stories, new partnerships, and achievements that wouldn’t have been possible without your generosity. Whether you’ve donated, volunteered, or simply shared our mission with others, you’ve played a vital role in helping us create life-changing partnerships between our assistance dogs and autistic people. 

This Christmas, we celebrate you – our community – for standing by us, believing in our mission, and making a real difference. From all of us at Dogs for Autism, we wish you and your loved ones a joyful and peaceful holiday season.

Spotlight on a Partnership

Our dogs enable children and young people to access education by supporting them on the transition to and from school, or by joining them in the classroom.

Before fifteen-year-old Peter Wilson, who is autistic, was partnered with his assistance dog Coco, life for Peter and his family was almost unbearable. Unable to participate in school or spend time out and about, the family were desperate. That’s when Coco the Cavapoo came along. Coco has since given Peter and his family their lives back, meaning they can now look ahead to an independent future for Peter.

Highlights of the Year

2024 has been an incredible year for Dogs for Autism, filled with exciting achievements and inspiring stories. Thanks to your unwavering support, we have been able to make an even greater impact in the autism community.

Here are just a few highlights:

• New applicants: for the first time in over two years, we were able to open our application process to new families. The response was incredible and we are looking forward to starting life-changing journeys for all our new clients and their families.

• More assistance dogs placed: This year, we successfully placed more highly trained assistance dogs with autistic people across the UK, than ever before. Each match has brought new hope and comfort to families. In addition, we have placed four buddy dogs who will live as emotional support dogs within families that have children with special needs. 
• Five new dogs in training: We have also welcomed five new puppies into our training programme. These future assistance dogs are already showing remarkable progress!
• Major fundraising successes: We received a substantial number of donations both at Crufts and through our Sponsor a Puppy Campaign contributing to the funding of our new puppies.  We also received a generous Grant from the Mercers allowing us to begin ground breaking research and training in the field of meltdown alert task work. We are overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity shown by our supporters.
• Community engagement: We have been involved with a number of community events, going into schools, Rotary Clubs and local church groups, raising awareness and sharing the importance of how our assistance dogs change lives for autistic people. These events help spread the word and build connections that lead to lasting change.
• Our trainee assistance dog, Buddy has become the resident ‘This Morning’ dog on ITV and the programme is following his training journey. This is bringing the charity fabulous national exposure and the chance for some of our partnerships to appear and tell their story. If you want to help fund his training, click the buddy button below. 

Each of these milestones represents a step closer to our goal of empowering more autistic people through the incredible bond between humans and dogs.

Behind-the-Scenes: How we train our dogs

Have you ever wondered what it takes to train an assistance dog? At Dogs for Autism, we believe we can give every dog we work with the best chance of becoming a transformational assistance dog, but their journey from playful puppy to trusted assistance dog requires patience, dedication, and lots of love.

Our intensive training spans eighteen months to two years and is carefully designed to prepare dogs to meet the unique needs of autistic people. During this time, our trainers work on teaching the dogs essential skills, such as calming techniques, deep-pressure therapy, and guiding in challenging environments. This training ensures that our dogs can carry out bespoke tasks to support their autistic partner, both at home and in public places.

A vital part of the process is our team of volunteer puppy parents. Under the supervision of our training team, these families play a key role in the socialisation and development of the dogs, ensuring they are ready to meet the unique challenges ahead.

Each dog’s journey is a testament to the hard work of our trainers, volunteers, and supporters like you, all working together to create life-changing partnerships.

Winter Appeal

Help train our puppies and enter for a chance to win an unforgettable VIP experience

This Christmas, we’re hoping to expand our Dogs for Autism family by welcoming three new puppies into training – and we need your help!  To make it even more exciting, we’re launching a special competition for our supporters…

…With each donation of £5 or more, between now and Christmas Day, you will be entered into the draw to win exclusive access to our training centre, where you’ll have the chance to meet one of our incredible puppies in training, learn about our process, and spend time with our dedicated team.

With your support, these puppies will embark on a life-changing journey, growing into assistance dogs who will empower autistic people to lead more independent, confident lives.

Every donation brings us closer to reaching our goal of £25,000 to cover the essential training, care, and resources needed for each puppy.

How to Enter:

1. Donate £5 or more to help us bring three new puppies into training.
2. You’ll automatically be entered to win the chance to meet one of our future heroes!

Your Impact: Your contribution will help provide essential training, medical care, and socialisation for these puppies, setting them on the path to become lifelong companions and sources of support for autistic people and their families.

Together, let’s make this Christmas a time of new beginnings for puppies and families alike. Thank you for helping us bring hope and transformational change into more lives!

Christmas wish list

This Christmas, you can give the gift of hope and companionship by supporting Dogs for Autism. Here are a few ways you can help make a difference:

• Sponsor a Puppy: Your sponsorship helps cover the costs of training and caring for an assistance dog, from puppyhood to placement.
• Make a Donation: Every contribution, big or small, directly supports our mission of providing life-changing assistance dogs to those who need them most.
• Spread the Word: Help raise awareness by sharing our story on social media or encouraging your friends and family to get involved.
• Volunteer: We’re always looking for dedicated volunteers to help with events, training, and more.
• DfA range of Christmas cards, Ecards and Merchandise ….. Don’t forget to browse our range of ecards and Buddy merchandise.

By supporting us this holiday season, you’re helping to create more life-changing partnerships and give autistic people the opportunity to lead more independent and confident lives.

Together, we can make a real difference!

Upcoming events for 2025

We are excited to share a few key events and initiatives planned for 2025 that will help raise awareness and support for Dogs for Autism.

• Crufts 2025 (7-10 March): We’re thrilled to announce that we’ll have a stand at Crufts, the world’s largest dog show, for four days! This is a fantastic opportunity to meet our team, learn more about our assistance dogs, and discover how you can get involved. We hope to see you there!
• Lead the Way Campaign (Launching in May 2025): In May, we’ll launch our “Lead the Way” campaign, a fundraising and awareness initiative to educate people on the life-changing impact of assistance dogs for autistic people. Stay tuned for more details on how you can participate and make a difference.

Thank You’s

Supporters

A big thank you to all our supporters and of course to our 2024 Heroes who each raised more than £1,000 for Dogs for Autism!

Corporate

We are incredibly grateful to our corporate supporters, whose generosity and partnership have been essential in helping us further our mission at Dogs for Autism.

Thanks to your contributions, we have been able to feed all our dogs, train more puppies and reach more families than ever before. Your support has allowed us to bring greater awareness to the transformative power of these remarkable relationships.

Volunteers

It’s been a busy year for all our incredible volunteers who have given their time, energy and kindness to Dogs for Autism. 

From our dedicated puppy parents, who work so hard with our young puppies to prepare them for their second stage of training, to our wonderful foster families, who help reinforce all the positive behaviours our dogs have been taught before going on to their forever families and to our fabulous event volunteers who spread the word about the work we do with such warmth and enthusiasm.  We would not be able to do what we do without each of you. 

If you are interested in joining our amazing family of volunteers, please click here to see what opportunities there are.  We would love to welcome you to the team.

Holiday well-wishes and closing message

As the festive season unfolds, we want to take a moment to thank you for your continued support. Whether you’ve contributed time, donations, or simply shared our story, your involvement has helped us change lives through the incredible partnerships we create between autistic people and their assistance dogs.

We wish you and your loved ones a wonderful holiday season filled with joy, peace, and love. May the New Year bring you health and happiness, and we look forward to sharing more incredible stories with you in 2025!