By Margaret Maccoll
It’s been an 18-month wait for Ziggy but the arrival of Smartpup, Jasper, three weeks ago is already improving the life of the 14-year-old and his family.
Ziggy’s father Warren said he and wife Sabine applied for a Smartpup in the hope it would help restrict Ziggy’s worrying habit of jumping the fence and running off.
“He used to jump the fence with his toy car and race the car between the cars on Beckmans Road,” Warren said.
Thankfully he hasn’t done that for a while but part of Jasper’s role is to keep a check on him and restrict him from running away.
With the help of fund-raising efforts from Vietnam veterans of Noosa Tewantin RSL the family were able to raise $20,000 needed for Jasper who was specially chosen and trained for Ziggy.
Warren said as soon as he arrived at their house Jasper identified Ziggy as his charge even though the two had not previously met.
“Ziggy was petrified of dogs – that was a challenge,” Warren said.
“After three weeks he’s better than ever expected. He pats him. We have to go for a walk every day. Ziggy holds on to the leash. To see it, it’s fantastic.
“Jasper follows him around everywhere. We tried to take Jasper out for a play on the river one day but he wouldn’t go without Ziggy. It’s just fascinating.”
Ziggy has severe autism and is non-verbal. He attends Nambour Special School daily and is collected by bus each morning and brought home each afternoon.
Warren said Jasper knows Ziggy is close to home before the bus even arrives.
Smartpups senior trainer and team leader Belynda Harvey trained Jasper before he was matched with Ziggy and his family.
Belynda said it was a complicated process to match a dog’s personality and temperament to the family and their needs and the dog’s trained was ongoing from an initial intensive phase involving training four to five days a week to annual checks.
She said seeing Jasper now and the effect he had on the family was “very rewarding”.
