Assistance Dogs New Zealand Trust provides purpose-trained Assistance Dogs to enrich the lives of New Zealanders and their families who are living with a disability. 72% of our clients are under the age of 20, 50% of whom have autism and other neurological disabilities. Each of our clients are individuals - we take on New Zealanders with disabilities who have no other organisation to turn to, and we refer the rest. With individuality comes different needs and different tasks for the dogs to perform. A dog matched with an autistic child might be trained to lay on the child as a lot of children with autism like pressure on them when they are feeling scared. A lot of our children have regular visits to hospitals and specialists, requiring tests. We get constant feedback at how much easier it is with the dog. The child does not fight the medical provider and is much more settled. If a child is in a wheelchair - the dog is trained to pick things up for them; if they have some mobility the dog acts as a brace for them. We have 43 graduated teams in New Zealand, 15 puppies in development and 5 in formal training. It costs $75,000 to breed, raise and train an Assistance Dog and provide client support throughout it's working life. We receive no government funding and rely entire on the generosity of our communities to help us fund this life-changing work.