TURAH — Taylor Wallace signaled to her mother, Sara, that she was hungry and anxious to leave for lunch with her new friend.
As she headed to the garage to put on her boots, she kept a tight grip on George, a tall, black goldendoodle dog. Taylor had met her new service animal for the first time the day before.
Taylor spent the morning fully consumed with George, lying on the floor with him and putting her nose up to his, petting him and trying to give him more treats.
"Taylor's had a huge smile on her face," Sara said. "It's been fun, but a bit of a learning curve trying to get them to bond, and it's a lot of work. They were both really tired yesterday."
The Wallaces received George this week after being nominated for a service dog from 4E Kennels Healing Hearts, a nonprofit based in Las Vegas, which trains and pairs service and therapy dogs with people who experience PTSD and anxiety as well as children with disabilities. George's placement with the Wallaces was sponsored by the Engelstad Foundation.
4E Kennels Healing Hearts also trains service dogs for specific facilities, such as schools, funeral homes, courthouses and others. They've placed over 30 dogs around the country, according to Jeanette Forrey of the organization.
George will work specifically with Taylor, who has apraxia, a speech-sound disorder. People who have apraxia of speech have trouble saying what they want correctly and consistently, which can result in frustrations and meltdowns.
George has also been trained in body blocking in public settings, where he puts himself between his owner and other people. That helps calm Taylor when she gets frustrated.
"We're looking for someone to help her refocus," Sara said. "It's still going to happen with the communication barriers."
Earlier Thursday morning, Taylor became agitated when struggling to communicate with her parents. George approached her and she began petting him and settled down.
Sara is hopeful that the relationship will help her learn and master more words for her vocabulary. Around the house, Taylor's vocabulary is between 12-20 words and names, but at speech therapy her bank is a bit larger, Sara said.
"Every word that you learn when you're younger it might take you 1,000 times to learn a word," Sara said. "With Taylor it takes her at least 5,000 times and so I'm hoping that with some of these words that the more she does them it'll help her learn more words and remember them."
On Thursday afternoon, Taylor was already practicing the word "sit" and an accompanying hand gesture with George.
"She's picked it up though," Sara said. "It's been fun to see, and he's picked up on a few things this morning."
George has already put in a lot of work, starting when he was 8 weeks old, to prepare to meet and work with Taylor and her family.
"We choose puppies based on all different types of traits," Forrey said. "It's like giving them a voice in their placement, like they applied for a job."
Part of that training is specialized to Taylor. The Wallaces sent audio of Taylor while experiencing a meltdown, which Forrey would play for George and reward him when he responded correctly.
"So when he came in yesterday that was no big deal for him to hear and what it entailed," Forrey said. "There was no point that he was nervous about it."
Forrey is spending three days in Missoula working with the Wallaces during the transition. On Wednesday, the staff from 4E Kennels Healing Hearts worked with Taylor on building a bond with George. The group made their first public outing on Thursday afternoon when they went out to lunch and later to Taylor's speech therapy session.
Forrey said it takes about three weeks for her dogs to completely adjust to a new family and home. She breeds and works with goldendoodles for their trainability, work ethic and laid-back demeanor.
Eventually, George will accompany Taylor, who is in seventh grade, to school in Clinton.
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As she headed to the garage to put on her boots, she kept a tight grip on George, a tall, black goldendoodle dog. Taylor had met her new service animal for the first time the day before.
Taylor spent the morning fully consumed with George, lying on the floor with him and putting her nose up to his, petting him and trying to give him more treats.
"Taylor's had a huge smile on her face," Sara said. "It's been fun, but a bit of a learning curve trying to get them to bond, and it's a lot of work. They were both really tired yesterday."
The Wallaces received George this week after being nominated for a service dog from 4E Kennels Healing Hearts, a nonprofit based in Las Vegas, which trains and pairs service and therapy dogs with people who experience PTSD and anxiety as well as children with disabilities. George's placement with the Wallaces was sponsored by the Engelstad Foundation.
4E Kennels Healing Hearts also trains service dogs for specific facilities, such as schools, funeral homes, courthouses and others. They've placed over 30 dogs around the country, according to Jeanette Forrey of the organization.
George will work specifically with Taylor, who has apraxia, a speech-sound disorder. People who have apraxia of speech have trouble saying what they want correctly and consistently, which can result in frustrations and meltdowns.
George has also been trained in body blocking in public settings, where he puts himself between his owner and other people. That helps calm Taylor when she gets frustrated.
"We're looking for someone to help her refocus," Sara said. "It's still going to happen with the communication barriers."
Earlier Thursday morning, Taylor became agitated when struggling to communicate with her parents. George approached her and she began petting him and settled down.
Sara is hopeful that the relationship will help her learn and master more words for her vocabulary. Around the house, Taylor's vocabulary is between 12-20 words and names, but at speech therapy her bank is a bit larger, Sara said.
"Every word that you learn when you're younger it might take you 1,000 times to learn a word," Sara said. "With Taylor it takes her at least 5,000 times and so I'm hoping that with some of these words that the more she does them it'll help her learn more words and remember them."
On Thursday afternoon, Taylor was already practicing the word "sit" and an accompanying hand gesture with George.
"She's picked it up though," Sara said. "It's been fun to see, and he's picked up on a few things this morning."
George has already put in a lot of work, starting when he was 8 weeks old, to prepare to meet and work with Taylor and her family.
"We choose puppies based on all different types of traits," Forrey said. "It's like giving them a voice in their placement, like they applied for a job."
Part of that training is specialized to Taylor. The Wallaces sent audio of Taylor while experiencing a meltdown, which Forrey would play for George and reward him when he responded correctly.
"So when he came in yesterday that was no big deal for him to hear and what it entailed," Forrey said. "There was no point that he was nervous about it."
Forrey is spending three days in Missoula working with the Wallaces during the transition. On Wednesday, the staff from 4E Kennels Healing Hearts worked with Taylor on building a bond with George. The group made their first public outing on Thursday afternoon when they went out to lunch and later to Taylor's speech therapy session.
Forrey said it takes about three weeks for her dogs to completely adjust to a new family and home. She breeds and works with goldendoodles for their trainability, work ethic and laid-back demeanor.
Eventually, George will accompany Taylor, who is in seventh grade, to school in Clinton.
Turah family gifted service dog for child with speech disorder
George, a black goldendoodle, will work specifically with Taylor, who has Apraxia, a speech-sound disorder.
