4 Paws for Martin Hulsey

Martin is a precious, loving and energetic 4 –year old who is fiercely curious about the world around him. At the age of 2, He was diagnosed with Non Verbal Autism. Martin struggles with communicating his needs and desires, socialization, and stemming behavior which includes an ever present risk of elopement and escape. Although there is no cure for Autism, with a service dog, barriers are minimized and Martin is given another tool to better manage his Autism and live his best life. We are thrilled to announce Martin has been approved to receive an Autism Service Dog through 4 Paws for Ability.

4 Paws Autism Assistance Dogs will be trained in a variety of tasks to assist Martin. These include behavior disruption to distract and disrupt repetitive behaviors or meltdowns, tethering to prevent and protect Martin from wandering, and search and rescue tracking to locate Martin if he has wandered.

An Autism Assistance Dog would benefit Martin in many ways, such as:

·         Performing deep pressure by lying across his lap when he gets upset.

·         Snuggling or giving kisses when Martin is upset and crying.

·         Improve Martin’s sleep just by being present and snuggling.

·         Using search and rescue skills to follow Martin’s scent and lead us to him, should he ever wander off.

·         Prevent wandering while out in public by being tethered to Martin.

·         Friendship.

·         Becoming a social bridge leading to incentive to communicate.

·         Assisting with transitions.

·         Teaching responsibility.

It costs 4 Paws for Ability between $40,000 – $60,000 to train and properly place each service dog. Their funding model is partial payment for services, meaning they cover a portion of the cost and we as a family are responsible for a service fee of $17,000, so we are asking for your help in our efforts to raise the money needed for our son to become one of the many children benefiting from a service animal.

If you’d like to help, donations can be made here:

**** Webpages/ Facebook

By Phone by calling

4 Paws for Ability

937-374-0385

Monday through Friday

9AM to 4PM EST.

By check please make them payable to 4 Paws for Ability and writing Martin’s full name (Martin Hulsey) on the memo line and mailing it to:

4 Paws for Ability

In Honor of Martin Hulsey 

207 Dayton Ave.

Xenia, Ohio 45385