MONTREAL - For almost 30 years years, Mira dogs have helped visually impaired and disabled people live better lives.
Now, after a long research project, these special pets are also helping autistic children and their families.
"We discovered the presence of the dog does diminish the stress for the parent and the child," Stephanie Fecteau of the Mira Foundation told CTV Montreal's Tarah Schwartz.
Serge Berube is an expert on fostering these puppies. His job is simply to offer a great home, sensitizing the dog to as much as possible. The hard part, he said, is saying goodbye when the year is up.
Fecteau said the training is crucial for their role helping autistic children.
"These puppies are given away to our foster families and they'll be living with them for a year - they'll be our future service dogs," she said.
Sharon McCarry said getting a Mira dog for her son, who was diagnosed with autism at age three, has transformed her family. She said her son Colm has learned a lot from his pet, Babel.
Colm's older brother, Liam, agreed.
"He's calmed down a lot more," he said. "She's wonderful."
Since its founding in 1981, MIRA has provided more than 2,000 guide and service dogs.
Now, about a third of all the dogs MIRA provides go to autistic children.
Each dog costs about $30,000 to train and is given free of charge.
Mira does not receive any government funds, its financing depends entirely on donations from the public, from charitable organizations and from private companies.
For more information visit Mira's website.
