I decided to include this story about another autism assistance dog because it highlights the importance of these dogs for children with autism and their families.
Before Indie, I used to dread taking Brandon out in public. I hated the stares, awkward silences, and the whispers and giggles about Brandon's strange noises and behaviour.
It has taken Indie, to show me that I should walk proud next to Brandon. Indie walks tall and well with Brandon, looking up as if to say, 'Heh, everyone, none of you are as lucky as me because I have a best friend and his name is Brandon'.
Indie normalises all of Brandon's actions and alongside Indie I feel empowered to be able to deal with everything Brandon has to offer.
It is indeed still a real learning curve, remembering to leave some of the care to Indie. I still believe I have all of the answers and it is only on reflection that sometimes it is in everyone's interests to let Indie help.
We went to the local market and we were all having a good time. Unfortunately, things were getting too comfortable and I went to buy tea leaves from one stall and Terry went to buy meat from another stall at the same time. Brandon began kicking stones up, so high into people's faces and stalls and Terry immediately grabbed Brandon who began screaming and walked him out of the market. I was holding Indie who was getting out of control pulling the lead however instead of following her lead, I continued purchasing my tea leaves knowing Terry had Brandon in hand. And here's the rub! I should have taken Indie to Brandon to help calm him down as well as navigate Brandon away from the stones so that he wasn't in the position to kick them. Indie is able to enter Brandon's world and allow him to connect with the world so well but unless we allow her to do so, we are not experiencing the full benefit of her capabilities. The next time a similar instance occured, we allowed Indie to intervene and this helped enormously. Still such a learning curve but SO WORTHWHILE!
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