Matthew LaMott & Austim Assist Dog Lloyd
“It’s a whole new world being out there with him. In the three weeks since Lloyd came to live with us we have seen amazing things.” Christine LaMott says about her seven year-old son Matthew.
Four years ago Christine’s mother called her and told her to watch a news story about Can Do Canines helping children with autism—children like Matthew. Watching carefully, she felt like they were taking a page out of her family playbook. Meltdowns, bolting away, and poor communication were all part of Christine, father Jonathan and big sister Molly’s everyday life with Matthew. After watching the news story, Christine began to feel a glimmer of hope.
Christine remembers, “I had taken to strapping Matthew into an umbrella stroller when we went out in public because he would be safer and not bolt away. But people would look at us like ‘don’t you know he is too big to be in there?’ Matthew easily gets stressed and frustrated, but I noticed he was in a ‘different place’ when he was with a dog—a good place. We wanted him to know there would always be someone there, just for him.”
Full of optimism, they filled out an autism pre-application and were told there was a wait—a long wait. After three years, Jonathan and Christine decided to take a different direction. They researched the best dogs to work with children and carefully selected a golden retriever breeder with a good reputation. Chase, a beautiful puppy came into their lives. They began training him but soon realized he did not have the desire or talents needed to help Matthew. “You could see Chase was too anxious and energetic to be comfortable in public,” Christine says. Instead of becoming Matthew’s friend, Chase bonded better to his older sister, Molly.
When Can Do Canines notified them that their application had been accepted and a fully trained dog was available, all the years melted away. Lloyd, a two-year-old black Labrador retriever from Can Do Canines’ breeding program, came into their lives and the LaMott’s world changed. Training was easier than they expected because they had recently completed some obedience classes with Chase. As soon as Lloyd moved in, they knew Matthew had found his best friend.
“Nudge, nudge … nudge again,” Matthew says in between giggles as Lloyd rolls a ball to him. Out in public, the family no longer has to take two vehicles in case of a meltdown. Recently, the whole family attended Matthew’s sister’s school event together—something they had never been able to do before. Matthew walked in, holding the handle on Lloyd’s vest, and spied a stack of mats in the corner of the gym. He and Lloyd climbed up, settled in and Matthew laid his head on Lloyd to watch the entire program.
Christine beams, “To walk around the mall together knowing he is safely tethered to Lloyd and happily looking around; or, to take him to get a haircut without a major meltdown or holding him down to finish is amazing. At his last haircut, he started to have a meltdown, but Matthew just scrunched his eyes, reached to touch Lloyd, took deep breaths and let the stylist finish his hair. Lloyd provided something I could not give him.”
Tears well up in Christine’s eyes as she thinks of all those involved who helped bring Lloyd to their family.
“There are no words to describe what you’ve provided for people like us—it’s bigger than words. I don’t think the Puppy Raisers, volunteers and donors can even conceive how much it means to have been given this gift. In just three weeks Lloyd has changed our lives, created a whole new world.”
Thank you to all those who made this partnership possible:
Puppy Raiser: The Bloomquist Family
Breeder Host: Elizabeth Herberg
Whelping Home: The Lenneman Family
Prisons: Inmate Handlers at the Federal Correctional Facility at Waseca
All Prison Furlough Families
Special thanks: Marti & Ken Anderson
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