Stef McGinn from Portlaoise is in the process of training her dog Baylee to be a service dog for her three children.
Her children, DJ (12) and twins Áine and Aoifá (10) have autism and sensory processing disorder.
She has enlisted the help of Martin Maher from Scallywags Dog Training in Portlaoise to train Baylee.
Stef spoke with LaoisToday about her experience training Baylee for her children.
She said: “I got Baylee in February 2019. After looking for a few weeks, myself and Martin went to look at a litter and I stood back and let Martin look because I’d have literally taken them all home with me … after careful thought he decided that Baylee was the man for the job.
“All three of my children have autism and sensory processing disorder. Due to all three having both diagnosis it is very difficult for me to take the children out on my own.
“I am a single parent and without a second person there I rely on my parents a lot to help me with outings and ultimately more often than not we have to split the outings. Baylee will help me by being my second person.”
Stef explained how Baylee has already changed their lives.
“Due to the SPD holding hands is difficult for them, one of the twins in particular so she will be attached to Baylee via a belt and a harness and he will act as my second person and leave me a hand each for the other two children.
“He will also act as a calming aid for the three of them when we are out and about and even at home just having him running round and being with them, he has a calming effect on them, even just to stroke him as they walk past or lay up on the couch beside them.
“I am hoping that having Baylee the public in general will be more empathetic towards my children.
“If one of them is having a hard time in public people will see Baylee and see ‘Service Dog’ on his vest and hopefully they will realise there is a hidden disability here and walk away rather than stop, stand, stare and judge and make the children more agitated by an accumulating crowd.
“One of my daughters is also a flight risk so Baylee is currently being trained to lay down when his harness lead is pulled so he can alert me that she is trying to run, he is vital for my children’s safety.”
Stef says that the whole experience has been incredible.
She said: “This whole experience has been wonderful thanks to Martin, he has been with me every step of the way, he listened to my concerns for the children and he has been trained accordingly for my own children’s needs.
“I felt this was the best route to go down for my family to get our own puppy and have him trained for us, this suits our situation, Baylee is being reared in our home from 8 weeks old.
“He is used to the children being loud, he is used to the children playing with him, he is used to the rough and tumble that comes with my children and he absolutely loves every minute of it.
“Because he was reared with us absolutely nothing phases him, literally nothing we throw at him, he is always wagging his tail and happy to learn and please Martin and myself.
“I am so happy that I get to be part of his training too, Martin had all the ground work done and then Martin trained me to work with Baylee.
“I have enjoyed every minute of it and I am looking forward to the rest of this experience, I cannot recommend Martin enough.”
“Baylee has been training for about nine months and in that time his progress is unbelievable, he takes everything in his stride and he loves every minute of it.
“When he sees his vest coming he cannot stop wagging his tail and he walks with ease and he is really proud of himself and he knows how important he is.
“He has another few months to go in his training, we have attached martins daughter to him and she has been a big help in the flight risk training.
“We will be attaching my daughter in the coming months, his training will always continue even after he is fully trained as a refresher to both myself and to Baylee to make sure neither of us get lazy or pick up habits.”
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