Leon Kirby-Bulner, a five-year-old who had never spoken or interacted with anybody else, was introduced to Fern, a cocker spaniel.
Andover resident Leon suffers from a rare brain disorder called Chiari Malformation, in which the bottom section of the brain presses down into the spinal canal, causing him to be wheelchair-bound.
As a youngster, he was also diagnosed with an autistic spectrum disorder. However, when Leon’s parents purchased Fern as a puppy, everything changed for the youngster.
Once meeting the cocker spaniel, they planned to use him to flush birds for their falconry company, but their intentions altered after their kid met the dog…
His mother, Hayley, says that “as soon as he saw her, there were lights in his eyes.”
“That was something we’d never seen before. In the past, he used to sit in the corner and rock, as if he didn’t want you to engage with him or be in the same room with you…
“He simply wanted to be left alone,” says the author. But this small little dog made him smile and giggle, and he was able to express all of these feelings that we had never seen before in him.
Within a few weeks, we realized we had lost our falconry dog, and we decided that Fern would be his replacement.”
Leon had an astounding shift from the day he met his favorite dog…
“He was deafeningly quiet before Fern. “You’re not going to be able to stop him now,” Hayley says with a giggle…
“She’s been the key to his door, the key to opening his small universe,” says the author.
Fern was given specialized training so that she could serve as more of an aid dog for Leon, a job that she seemed to be naturally suited for from the beginning of their relationship.
The reason for [Leon’s] headbutts is unclear. “It might be tied to his autistic side with stress, but it could also be related to his Chiari, so he would go down on his knees and he will headbutt,” Hayley adds.
As a pup, Fern would go beneath his head and stop him from head-banging, despite the fact that she had never been trained to do so.
In order to assist Leon in his daily activities, Fern has been taught to do everything from bringing him his clothing and feeding equipment in the mornings to assisting him to get dressed and even loading the washing machine…
She also assists Leon in calming down during meltdowns by laying down on him and delivering soothing pressure to his body and mind.
Fern is now three years old, and the two of them are the best of friends imaginable. In Hayley’s words, “they do almost everything together.”
When Leon was admitted to the hospital at the beginning of this year, Fern seemed to be heartbroken, as if she had lost touch with her best friend forever.
The woman, Hayley recounts, “sat at the front entrance and just kept giving me his shoes and coat.”
“She simply couldn’t figure out why he wasn’t there,” says the author…
