Rosie And Alex: A True Love Story.

MELBOURNE, Ark. — This Christmas, 5-year-old Alex Bennett has a new best friend. She plays with him, sleeps with him, calms him down when he becomes frustrated, protects him from danger and will soon be going to school with him, too. Rosie, the newest member of the Bennett household, is part lab, part retriever and, according to Alex’s mother Mandi Bennett, “all heart.”


Rosie is a service dog, specifically trained to work with autistic children. And she takes her job seriously. “Rosie is not quite a year old yet but she’s had extensive training,” Bennett said. “She went through her obedience training at a women’s prison and then she was trained to work with autistic children at an organization called 4 Paws for Ability.” The Ohio-based group trains service dogs to help children with disabilities and their families. Alex was diagnosed with autism in July 2006 and it was Mandi’s mother, Donna Adams, who first found out about service dogs.


“I was doing some research on autism on the Internet and I came across this Web site,” Adams explained. “4 Paws for Ability deals only with service dogs, not seeing-eye dogs. They train dogs in autism assistance, mobility assistance and seizure assistance as well as hearing and multipurpose assistance. “These dogs are just incredible,” she continued. “Some of them are trained to open the fridge, get clothes out of the dryer or even pick up the phone.” Others, like Rosie, are trained to help with the day-to-day problems that a child like Alex faces.


“I knew this would be an answer to our prayers,” Bennett said. “But there was no way I could afford a dog like that.” The price for a service dog can run anywhere from $10,000 to $15,000. “That’s when the community stepped in,” Adams said. “I can’t tell you just how grateful we are to everyone who helped make this possible for Alex. “People have been wonderful,” she continued. “They set up donation accounts at the bank and held benefit gospel concerts at the church. “Then we started getting letters and cards in the mail with money in them,” Bennett said.


“People would send $5, or $10, just because they’d heard about Alex and wanted to help. “I can’t put into words how that made us feel,” she added. The Mill Creek Coffee House in Melbourne even put some of Bennett’s handmade jewelry on display for sale. “We raised almost $500 that way,” she said. “This whole town has been great.” In November, the family was finally able to travel to Xenia, Ohio, to pick up Rosie. They participated in training and tracking exercises every day for two weeks.


“The biggest worry for me is the safety issue,” Bennett said. “Alex loves to run and play but he has no concept of the road or the cars speeding by. “I’ve always been afraid he is going to get outside and end up hurt or lost,” she added with a sigh. But now, thanks to Rosie, some of that worry has been lifted. “During the tracking exercises in Ohio she (Rosie) found him 100 percent of the time,” Bennett said proudly. “She found him in the woods, in the snow and even in a crowded mall.


“When Rosie wears the special harness and Alex is tethered to her, he actually has more freedom,” she continued. “I don’t have to keep a death grip on him when we go out, or go shopping. If there’s a dangerous situation she will lay down and not move. “If she’s not moving, he’s not moving,” she added. “You have no idea what a relief that is for me.” The exact cause for autism remains a mystery, although symptoms can easily be detected during childhood. The word autism comes from the Greek word meaning “self.”


It’s a fitting name for a disease that causes problems in areas of development such as verbal communication and social interactions. Those with the ailment will not socialize with others, tend to avoid eye contact and seem to retreat into their own private world. In some situations, autistic children like Alex will develop repetitive routines or even exhibit uncontrolled behavior in the form of yelling or crying. That is another area that Rosie helps out in. She has been trained to provide behavior disruption and pressure therapy.


“Because Alex doesn’t speak he tends to get easily frustrated,” Bennett said. “So when he starts to get really agitated, Rosie will go nuzzle him or she will lay her head and paw in his lap to calm him down. “It provides a distraction and stops the behavior,” she said. Bennett and Adams agree the best part of the whole experience for them has been watching Alex and Rosie bond. “He just loves her — there’s no other way to say it,” Bennett said. “It’s something to see him come out of that shell and to smile. ... He even started saying ’Mama’ again,” she added softly. Alex attends preschool at the Child and Youth Pediatric Day Clinic in Batesville, and pretty soon Rosie will be enrolling, too.


“We just want to give her a little time to adjust to her new home first,” Bennett said. “He’ll graduate in May and then he’ll be ready to go to kindergarten at a public school” she continued. “That is what really terrifies me and I know it will be scary for him, too. “But this gives me some measure of peace about the situation,” she added, rubbing Rosie’s ears. “Nothing is as scary when you have your best friend with you.”