A dog breeder from Moray has joined forces with a national charity to give away her Labradors to autistic children across the north-east.
Lynda Hall, from Archiestown, has been breeding and donating pets to families in the south of Scotland for a number of years.
Now she wants to spread the puppy love across the north-east with the help of the Moray branch of the National Autistic Society (NAS).
Ms Hall said: “I’m not an expert in autism, but what I understand is that autistic children have difficulty in communicating.
“A lot of autistic people find that when they can’t express themselves they get angry, and when they want to be away from everybody they can spend time with the dog to calm down.
“Labradors have a good temperament and they’ll never turn and be aggressive. They will just sit still, no matter how much a child might throw a tantrum or scream, which makes them the ideal companion.”
Glyn Morris from the Moray and Nairn branch of the NAS said Ms Hall’s offer was a “brilliant concept”.
He explained: “Individuals on the spectrum can suffer from particular issues like hypersensitivity to noise or anything else in the surrounding environment, and sometimes need to spend time alone.
“But they do long for friendships, which can be difficult to build with neurotypical human beings. It’s frustrating and stressful for them to keep up with and understand social rules, so they can create this bond instead with a dog.”
The benefits go wider still, said Mr Morris, as he recalled the case of a child who did not want to brush their teeth.
“On this particular occasion the child was shown the dog having its teeth brushed, and this individual with autism managed to understand that if the dog needs to have it done, they would need to have it done as well,” he said.
“Another example was a school tie being an issue, so the parents put a school tie on the dog and they both walked to school wearing school ties.
“I think it’s just such a brilliant concept, and with the right dog and the right family it can have tremendous benefits.
“We’ll be working closely with Lynda, we are so grateful for her help.”
For more information e-mail morayandnairn@nas.org.uk.