Rankin Inlet family gets four-legged support for autistic daughter

Natalie Cross, 5, gets a kiss from her new constant companion, Glacier, a one-year labrador and autism assistance guide dog. (PHOTO COURTESY OF AMBER CROSS)

Autism assistance guide dog Glacier can be identified by his red vest. Because he’s a working dog, the public is asked not to pet him or distract him. (PHOTO COURTESY OF AMBER CROSS)

Natalie and Glacier at home in Rankin Inlet. (PHOTO COURTESY OF AMBER CROSS)

A few weeks after the Cross family’s new dog arrived home in Rankin Inlet, Amber Cross took to the community’s Facebook page to introduce him.

Rankin Inlet residents will probably come across Glacier at some point, a one-year-old golden labrador who is gentle, well-trained and easy to recognize in his red vest.

But in her Facebook post, Cross asks people in the community not to pet Glacier. That’s because he’s a working dog, and his job is caring for the family’s five-year-old daughter, Natalie, who lives with autism spectrum disorder.

Glacier is Nunavut’s first autism assistance guide dog, trained and donated by an Ontario-based charity called Lions Foundation of Canada.

And it’s a welcome help to a family that’s struggled to find support raising their daughter, who is non-verbal and suffers from severe anxiety.

Autism assistance guide dogs are trained to serve as constant companions to children who have autism by helping to promote social interaction and reduce stress and anxiety.

Cross and her husband learned about the dogs after watching a documentary film, and applied to the Lions Foundation in early 2013.

Since Glacier arrived in November, the dog is getting to know his new young companion.

“At first, Natalie was a bit standoffish,” Cross said. “Then he came and sat at her feet and kind of sniffed her, and then she was just all smiles. It was really beautiful. Now he follows her everywhere.”

Eventually, Glacier will accompany Natalie to school every day, and go with her to bed at night to ease her sleep disorder.

Even in the few weeks since Glacier arrived, he’s provided a huge sense of relief to the Cross family, she said.

Once of Cross’ biggest fears is Natalie’ tendency to wander; Glacier is trained to stay with Natalie and will eventually be tethered to her so he can act as an anchor if she tries to wander away.

Cross says she’s grateful for the family’s new addition, particularly in a territory where access to autism support and therapy is rare.

Cross and her husband Ken moved from their native Nova Scotia to Baker Lake in 2006, where their family grew to include Nicholas, now seven, and Natalie.

But Cross started to notice issues with Natalie’s development when she was still a baby; she stopped babbling, her facial expressions went blank and she didn’t crawl until 16 months.

Before Natalie turned two, the family relocated to Nova Scotia to have her diagnosed. Cross then put her daughter on a waiting list for behavioral therapy, only to realize it would be years — and possibly too late — for Natalie to get access.

“We realized that there’s actually more available to us in Nunavut, so we made the decision to move back North,” Cross said. The Cross family moved from Baker Lake to the larger centre of Rankin Inlet this past summer.

When the family spoke to Nunatsiaq News earlier this year looking for support, Cross said the only feedback they got was criticism.

“We got a lot of people shaming us for living up north,” she said.

After relocating to Rankin Inlet this past summer, Cross said Natalie at least now has access to a full-time education assistant in her kindergarten classroom, along with occupational and speech therapy — more than she’d get in some other jurisdictions in Canada.

The Lions Foundation of Canada provides specially-trained dogs to support a number of mental and physical disabilities. Each dog guide costs about $25,000 to raise and train, although they’re provided to applicants at no cost.

Cross flew to Ontario in early November to spend 10 days training with Glacier before bringing him home to Rankin Inlet.

“He’s such a huge stress relief for us,” she said. “Natalie is already a little more engaged. She’s interested in where the dog is all time and her temperament is better — she hasn’t been having as many meltdowns.

“And because kids with autism have a hard time connecting, he’s just her buddy, her constant companion.”