Whoever said you can’t buy happiness evidently forgot about puppies…

…and 10 y.o. Levi from Brunswick, VIC deserves every happiness the world can give him.

You see Levi has Angelman’s Syndrome, a genetic condition made up of a number of features which occur together as a group. In Levi’s case it is characterized by physical mobility issues, a severe intellectual disability, epilepsy and an inability to talk.

In addition, Levi has a severe anaphylactic allergy which has threatened his life on several occasions.

When we met Levi in January 2012 he was unfortunately very isolated due to his disability and found it hard to engage in age appropriate activities and make friends. He was a happy little boy, loved other children and all animals. His family desperately wanted to give Levi the chance to have a close relationship of his own, and enjoy the unconditional love from a puppy. A puppy that would grow with Levi and bring another level of joy and companionship to his life.

A specially trained therapy dog would provide not only great friendship and company for Levi, but would also help in certain tasks for Levi (like picking up dropped items, participating in his therapy sessions, and alerting the family when Levi is in danger).

A specially raised and trained therapy dog for Levi would cost approximately $3,000, and so that’s the target we set for his Appeal – which was finished in just 2 weeks!

The next step in the process is for Dogs for Kids with Disabilities to find the right dog for Levi and to train it specifically for him and his needs. The wonderful Katie Hunter from Dogs for Kids with disabilities will keep us posted and we’re looking forward to bringing you updates as things progress.