A family’s fortunes have been turned around after they received a new therapy dog thanks to Benalla Trust.
Carla Gardner and her children were devastated when their four-legged companion named Henry passed away at the age of eight.
Pudding is the Gardner family’s newest therapy dog thanks to the help of Benalla Trust. Credit: Simon Ruppert.
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“Unfortunately, he had a heart condition which meant he didn’t live as long as he should have,” Ms Gardner said.
All of Ms Gardner’s kids are on the spectrum, so having a dog around that the kids could bond with made a big difference to their lives.
“Bee, my eldest child, doesn’t like to cuddle. But with the dog, it’s a different story. They loved cuddling with Henry,” Ms Gardner said. “The kids are big fans of animals. Well, they are a fan of pets, the chicken not so much.”
“Having Henry around was a big deal for them. So when he passed away, he left a huge hole in our lives.”
“I wanted to get a rescue dog for them,” she said. “But having kids with issues, I wanted to know the background of the dog I’m getting. For example, if the kids are in the middle of a meltdown, it can scare the dog. So I wanted to make sure that I got the right dog for our family.”
Benalla Trust Steps In
This is when Benalla Trust stepped in to ensure that the Gardners got the right dog for them.
Benalla Trust had already helped out the Gardners once before when they got Henry for them. So they knew the cost associated with getting and training the right dog might be prohibitive.
Benalla Trust member Peter Brown said they were keen to lend a hand in any way they could when they heard about Henry’s passing.
Pudding is the Gardner family’s newest therapy dog thanks to the help of Benalla Trust. Credit: Simon Ruppert.
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“Seeing as we helped them get Henry, we were 100% ready to do whatever we could to help,” Mr Brown said. “So we helped provide the funds to get Pudding, their new dog. We’ll also provide his training, which will continue for another 12 months. And we’re funding it all”
“Benalla Trust is able to do acts like these thanks to the funding we get from donations throughout the year. We also did a lot of fundraising before the Covid pandemic.”
“The local service clubs are very supportive of the trust. We’ve also got a Benalla Lions member on our board who has been a member since the very beginning.”
“Projects like these are why we do it.”
Ms Gardner is loving the addition of Pudding in the family.
“As he’s still a puppy, there are a lot of things that we need to be careful of,” she said. “We put our Christmas tree up higher this year, and we make sure not to leave any soft toys lying around. Oh, and socks too. Pudding really loves socks.”
Mr Brown said that the trust would like to give a special shout out to Peter Davis Rural for sponsoring this project by providing a year’s worth of dog food.
