Hello! We are the Hacker family! We are raising funds for an autism service dog for our son Cooper.

Cooper is diagnosed with Autism, Verbal Apraxia ( neurological speech disorder ) , ADHD, ODD, Severe Anxiety, Sensory Disorder and selective mutism.

Cooper has trouble with controlling his emotions. Every single day he struggles with everyday activities that we take for granted. Such as communicating with others, building relationships with others due to his anxiety, feeling safe in his environment because he can't control his emotions. He will not speak in school due to his selective mutism. He has outburst that can result in him breaking things and hurting himself. Going places is extremely hard for him. He does not like public places with a ton of people. Doctor visits and dentist appointments are difficult for him. He screams and cries during his dentist appointments. A service dog will help with calming him down during an outburst, calming him down with anxiety in public and making him feel more comfortable at school. A service dog will help keep him safe when he feels the need to hurt himself.

In order to get on a 2-3 year wait list for a service dog we will need to raise $20,000. We know once we finally get a service dog the waiting and work of raising this money will be worth it.

Training a service dog to meet our child’s requirements can be very costly. On average it costs between $40,000-60,000 to raise, train, and place a service dog at 4 Paws for Ability. While 4 Paws for Ability fundraises to help cover a significant portion of this cost, families are tasked with raising $20,000 of that amount or $23,000 if receiving a poodle, doodle or papillon. We hope that we can receive assistance from our beloved family and friends to help make our service dog dream a reality.