Sunny

Sunny is usually mentioned and seen in most posts here, but I thought it would be fun for you all to get to know Sunny a little bit better today.  After all, this blog started because of her.  Sunny is an autism service dog who belongs to our 7 year old son, Charlie.  Charlie and Sunny have been a team for almost 2 years now!  And boy, have we learned a few things since then.  

Sunny loves to work.  She aims to please whoever is working with her and really, really loves her family.  Especially her boy.  Sunny goes wherever Charlie goes.  Since there is such a large size discrepency (Charlie is 40lbs and Sunny is 90), Tyler or I need to act as Sunny's handlers when we're out in public.  But Charlie is always right there by her side.  

Sunny has quite a few important jobs each day.  Most days, especially during the school year, Sunny helps wake Charlie up and get him out of bed.  Charlie is NOT a morning person and having Sunny go in to greet him in the morning works so much better than mom or dad nagging him to get up.  Sunny was trained to respond to an alarm clock.  So, when the alarm clock goes off, Sunny runs into Charlie's room, jumps on the bed and nudges him with her nose and sometimes licks his face.  This usually works really well and gets him up without much complaint from Charlie...usually.

Another task Sunny has is just being present, being Charlie's constant throughout the day to help him with transitions.  Think of how many transitions you go through in a day......wake up and transition to the shower, then transition to getting dressed, then perhaps transition to the kitchen to make breakfast, then another transition from your house to your vehicle where you then transition from home to work. And that's just your morning!  Each transition Charlie goes through is difficult.  It's hard for him to switch gears as quickly as most people to go from one task to another.  Having Sunny with him helps to make the transitions smoother.  Plus we use tons of verbal warnings and prompts to help Charlie know what comes next; "ok, when the movie is done we are going outside" or, "we have 10 minutes left at the park and then we're going home.....5 minutes left....3 minutes left..."

Having Sunny in public with Charlie has been a huge help.  Going on outings in the community are often overwhelming for Charlie- large crowds, loud noises, walking safely in parking lots- it's a lot to handle.  But having Sunny with him gives Charlie something else to focus on and lessens his anxiety. If the outing becomes too much for him, we will often remove Charlie to a less busy area and try to have him calm down in a quieter space with Sunny.  We find that Charlie also walks safer with Sunny by his side.  He's less likely to dart out in front of a car when he's holding on to and focusing on Sunny.  Plus, with "block" and "cover" commands, that positions Sunny in front of Charlie (block)- especially at intersections- or behind him (cover) to help keep people behind him at a distance. 

 

Sunny provides Charlie with deep pressure therapy, daily, sometimes several times a day.  What this means is, Charlie responds well to deep pressure on his body to help him calm down, especially during melt downs.  This deep pressure is soothing to Charlie and helps him to regulate his body again.  So when Charlie is needing it, Sunny has a "lap" command or a "full on" command that either puts half of her body weight on Charlie's legs when he's sitting or positions her fully on top of him when he's laying down.  Both commands work wonders and he uses both.  Deep pressure also helps Charlie sleep at night.  He uses a weighted blanket I made for him, but sometimes asks for more pressure and has Sunny lay on him as well.  Charlie has always had a tough time sleeping since he was born.  He didn't sleep in his own bed until he was almost 5.  We noticed he has always slept better when he is with someone else.  So, having Sunny to sleep with has been a huge help.  She may not stay in the room the entire night.  She sometimes goes back and forth between Charlie's bed and the living room, but one thing we've noticed is when Tyler or I get up in the morning Sunny will always move back to Charlie's bed if she's been laying in the living room.  She starts the night with him and is always there in the morning when he wakes up.  

When we are riding in the truck to go anywhere, Sunny is positioned at Charlie's feet.  She has helped immensely during car rides.  Before we got Sunny we couldn't even ride into Rochester (10 minute drive) without a massive meltdown.  Now with Sunny, Charlie can hang on to her or, most of the time Sunny will rest her head in his lap and we imagine that little bit of pressure on his legs helps to keep him regulated.  There are still travel difficulties from time to time- driving anywhere more than an hour is a recipe for disaster and limits where we go, but for the most part Sunny has made a huge difference in this area.  

Besides being a working dog, Sunny has so much more to her.  She has quite the personality.  She has tons of energy and usually the only way to get the energy worked out of her is to go on a 3+ mile run.  She's goofy, tolerant, patient, and gentle.  She loves to play in the water and swim, loves running around in the yard with the boys and sometimes likes to play fetch- emphasis on sometimes.  She has fun pulling the boys in the sled in the winter, she hates being away from her people and she never roams far when we're outside and she's off duty.  Basically, she's an important part of the family and the best addition to Charlie's life.