Support Dogs - Who are the charity & what do they do?

It may come as no surprise that the people behind Tuff Pets are also dog lovers. Two thirds of the company have dogs and the other third is undoubtedly jealous! We wanted to give something back to the community and we couldn’t think of a better charity than Support Dogs. One of Tuff Pets’ directors has direct personal experience with Autism in the family, driving the importance of the work that Support Dogs do home even more. 

So how could Tuff Pets help? With our Biodegradable Poo Bags and Moonchers Cheese Chews! We are thrilled to be able to cover all of Support Dogs poop bags needs, ensuring they don’t have to worry about their bag supply or their environmental impact while cleaning up after the wonderful dogs they train. As an added bonus, we send them a supply of Moonchers Cheese Chews as a special treat for their dogs in training to reward them after a hard day’s work.  

Who are Support Dogs?

Based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire - Support Dogs are a charity which is “dedicated to saving and improving the lives of children and adults with various challenging medical conditions.” They achieve this via the provision, training and the support of specialist assistance dogs.

Support Dogs specialises in specific training programs: Autism assistance dogs, Seizure alert dogs for people with Epilepsy & Disability assistance blogs. The charity is a founding Assistance Dogs UK, a coalition of assistance dog training organisations. ADUK ensures that assistance dog’s welfare and training are to the very highest standard. 

You can find out in more detail about what Support Dogs’ here: https://www.supportdogs.org.uk/what-we-do

Autism Assistance

“Our clients are children with autism who are often unable to communicate or express their feelings in a way that is understood by others. They have little sense of danger or of the consequences of their actions. 1 in 100 children in the UK are diagnosed with autism. Half of these children will have a tendency to bolt and wander off from their caregivers, which can be very dangerous, and has often resulted in injuries to the child.”

Autism assistance dogs aid in reducing stress for family members, promote positive changes in the child’s behaviour, provide comfort when the child is upset & aid in the reduction of behavioural outbursts.

Read more about the training of Autism Assistance dogs here: https://www.supportdogs.org.uk/autism-assistance

Epilepsy Seizure Alert 

Epilepsy is the most common neurological illness among humans, with over 600000 cases across the UK. Around 30% of people with epilepsy are unable to control their seizures without medication, so live in fear of seizures which can occur at any time. 

Epilepsy support dogs are trained to reliably warn someone with epilepsy up to 50 minutes before an oncoming seizure. This allows time for their owner to find a safe and private place to have their seizure. 

You can find out more here about how Epilepsy Alert dogs are trained and what support the provide: https://www.supportdogs.org.uk/epilepsy-seizure-alert 

Disability Assistance

Support Dogs’ Disability Assistance training program aims to train people's own pet dogs as disability assistance dogs, improving their quality of life and independence along the way.

Some examples of the tasks that disability assistance dogs can be trained to aid with include opening & closing doors, picking up objects, dressing and undressing & many more.

As per Support Dogs’ website:

“Support Dogs also facilitate greater confidence for a more active life and vital social interaction. An assistance dog is often a catalyst for conversation, meeting new people and increasing their owner’s interaction with their community. This further increases confidence and self-esteem.”

Find out more about Support Dogs’ work with disability assistance dogs here: https://www.supportdogs.org.uk/disability-assistance

How can you help?

Support Dogs is an entirely donation funded operation, they rely on the generosity of people like you to continue training & providing the dogs needed to support the wonderful people they support every day. We are honoured to help them in any way we can and we hope anyone reading this will consider helping them too.

Find out more about how you can donate to Support Dogs here: https://www.supportdogs.org.uk/donate