Ryan Bolig now has what his family hopes is an ice breaker between him and the world — a Brindle Boxer service dog named Reeses.

Ryan, a 7-year-old Selinsgrove second-grader, is diagnosed with autism. “As Ryan got older and the autism became more prevalent, he lost the ability to connect with people and his grandmother’s Golden Retriever,” said Ryan’s mom, Susan Bolig. “Our goal is to teach Ryan socialization with his service dog and then transfer that skill to his peers.”

It is their hope Reeses, obtained through New Life Assistance Dogs, of Lancaster, will help Ryan interact with people. “We encourage children and adults to approach Ryan and ask to pet Reeses,” said Bolig. “We hope this will promote and help teach socialization.”

Ryan’s dad, Michael, is amazed how quickly the bonding between Ryan and Reeses has begun. “Ryan’s confidence and speech is building because he is helping with commands, reaching to pet her, and responsible for feeding her. Reeses also has given us more freedom. Thanks to the service dog, we’re able to go out and do things as a family. During the past two weeks,” he added, “we’ve done more things in the community than we have in a long time.”

The Boligs believe Ryan is having an easier time in public because he is busy concentrating on Reeses and not the environment around him, which used to cause him so much discomfort (due to his autism).

During a phone interview with Jill Harris, New Life Assistance Dog Program manager, her voice often cracked with emotion when telling how service dogs can improve quality of life.

Previously, the program offered service dogs to people with mobility issues; however, about three years ago, they provided service to sisters with autism.

“Two young girls with autism lived in the same house, but didn’t interact with each other,” said Harris. “After the service dog came into the home and the sisters had to share responsibility for the dog, they immediately began interacting.”

Harris hopes this type of interaction will carry in to Ryan’s life. “When we first began training Reeses to live with Ryan, Susan hoped I wouldn’t be disappointed because she thought we probably wouldn’t see any immediate interaction between Reeses and Ryan.”

But it didn’t take Ryan long to come out of his shell. Within a few days, Ryan was touching and playing with Reeses. “I was with the family for five nights of training,” said Harris. “After a few days, Reeses was leaning toward me and Ryan put his arm around the dog and Reeses moved closer to Ryan — almost as if Reeses was saying ‘I belong to Ryan now.’”

“Reeses already acts like she knows what her job is,” said Ryan’s mom, “and that is to be Ryan’s best friend.”

Born to help

Reeses was born in a puppy home owned by Margaret Harvey, of Northumberland. She stayed with Harvey for 18 months learning basic training. “It’s like a child in school,” said Harvey. “Puppies learn a general curriculum in the puppy home and then go to secondary training (like New Life Assistance Dogs) where the dog is trained for a specific recipient.”

Harvey has been raising service dogs for more than six years and currently has two of her dogs in the Sunbury Middle School — one in her learning support classroom and one in the library.

“There are many benefits to having service dogs in the classroom,” said the Shikellamy Learning Support teacher. “Dogs give unconditional love and that is something we all need — someone who loves us no matter what.”