AN ASSISTANCE dog is helping an autistic teenager and his family with the current lockdown.

Charity Dogs for Good provides highly trained dogs to over 50 families in the UK, such as the Sayer family in Carterton.

Caddie, a nine-year-old yellow Labrador, is a specially trained autism assistance dog and supports Janet and Kevin Sayer’s 16-year-old son, Joel, who has autism.

Joel also has ADHD, speech, language and sensory impairment and a sleep disorder.

He was diagnosed with autism when he was seven-years-old.

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His school - Carterton Community College - is closed so he is at home with his mum, who has a kidney disease and asthma, so is self-isolating.

Mr Sayer is as an aircraft engineer with British Airways, and is therefore a key worker.

Joel is currently very anxious and finds the coronavirus situation difficult to understand, as his normal routine has been disrupted.

He is worried in case people get too close to him, but Mrs Sayer has managed to persuade him to walk Caddie locally with her.

To de-stress, Joel is having lots of cuddles with Caddie.

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Mrs Sayer said: “Joel’s had to cope with an awful lot of changes and he’s been pacing up and down far more than usual, but he’d be doing this even more without Caddie.

“He’d also be very bored without Caddie as he’s been doing lots of activities with him which benefits both Caddie and Joel.

“They play ball in the garden and other games, which stimulates Caddie but also provides a great positive distraction to Joel, keeping him calm and providing a focus and routine each day as well as just making him smile.

“Caddie’s presence is keeping us all calmer and reducing our stress levels at this difficult time and in turn, that’s really helping me to give the best support I can to Joel.”

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Peter Gorbing, chief executive of Dogs for Good, added: “As Joel and Caddie’s story illustrates, people who have a dog in their household can really benefit from maintaining some kind of routine that their dogs crave.

“For example, dogs tend to remind us pretty forcibly when it is time for them to eat.

“They have a rhythm to their day that can help us to keep some kind of structure in our daily lives and of course, they need to go out for walks.

“For many families we’re working with, dogs play a really crucial role in helping to reduce anxieties and give a positive focus to help give some structure and routine.”

Dogs for Good’s National Training Centre is situated at The Frances Hay Centre in Banbury.