The Dog

Here's a fun convo to have with your spouse (bear in mind, he's an engineer ASPIE spouse, too):

"Honey, I want to get da Creature a dog"

"What kind of dog?"

"A helper dog."

"What kind of dog helps autistic kids?"

"A $15,000 one."

See, you have to be direct.  You have to state your case with as little hooplah and emotion as possible.  You have to be, well, sort of blunt.  They prefer that, actually, to big persuasive argumentation with evidenciary support and what not.  They like "this is this is this" rather than "you should want what I want because you LOVE me" B.S.  They're just not gonna respond to that.

It didn't take even a second...he knew I'd handle it, and whatever it takes, I'll do it, and so long as he doesn't have to talk to anyone on the phone, meet anyone at the house, discuss this with anyone at work, ask anyone for anything or train a dog, he's cool with whatever I decide.  So, his response?

"Okey dokey."

All that having been said, I'm now on a journey I cannot fail:  I WILL find, finance, and acquire a helper dog for my creature.  What that dog will do for him is beyond measure, beyond imagination.  It could save his life, a thousand times over, but what I know is that this will be a HASSLE for me.  That's okay, my creature loves me enough to trust me.  That's all the motivation I need.

So...da Creature's Mama is gonna go after the big enchilada.  We want the helper dog.  We want him in the Mississippi Public School system WITH his creature.  These things will be a test of patience and possibly the legal system if that's what it comes to.  But hopefully, we can make it happen.

I desperately need advice on how to make this a reality.  I need other Aspie moms who've paved the way for this to send me links to their blogs.  Google and I are not having the best of time and my searches are getting me a little help.  I'm going to put every link on this topic I find in a link list on the sidebar as I go.  I'm going to chronicle every stage of this...from getting a formal diagnosis from a reputable, well-informed physician (probably out of state, given the situation here in the country's WORST state in things like education, health care, obesity, etc.), to applying for and acquiring the dog, to how the presence of love unconditional in the eyes of a golden retriever reflects in the heart of da Creature.

Please let anyone who knows anything about this process know about this site.  I'm not gonna use it for fund-raising, as I'm budgeting to do this on our own family's budget, Dave Ramsay-style, and I'm probably not gonna put ads on this thing because I ***HATE*** ads.  So all there will ever be is content.

I know from past experience that it is hard to get a blog with only content really going, but that's okay.  da Creature is a force of nature...he has his own gravitational pull.  So pull up some stamp pads, grab some ink and lovingly smush your hands on a loved one's face....have a laugh, a cry, and share our story.