The History of Autism Dogs Charity

In 2016, we started off as Therapy Dogs, training Therapy Dogs for autistic people. Our first dogs were a litter of springadors that one of our Founders, Andrew Preston, bred himself.

We realised the value that our dogs could add to the lives of autistic people through being Assistance Dogs. So, with some added expertise, we made the shift from training our dogs to being Assistance Dogs.

In this year, we changed our name to Autism Dogs CIC (nearly the same as our current name, except now we’re a charity).

This year we worked very hard to improve our programme, grow our team, and help more autistic people and their families.

This was also the year we rebranded with our current logo. The logo symbolises how our handlers are supported by their dogs – superheroes who assist and love them.

As well as becoming a full member of ADI, we also became a full member of Assistance Dogs UK (ADUK). ADUK is a voluntary coalition of Assistance Dog organisations, aiming to share knowledge, expertise, and skills between its members and candidates, while also promoting the highest standards in assistance dog training and welfare.

To facilitate growth in expertise in the organisation and the amount of autistic people and families that we can help each year, this year we took the step to become a charity. We continue to strive to provide the best care and expertise to our clients and dogs, to enable us to change as many lives as possible.