At the end of October when most farming families were preparing for the winter ahead, Bridget Kirwan and Robert Hayes were preparing for the birth of puppies – lots of them.
A large litter of 15 golden Labradors has transformed the small dairy farm in Twomileborris, just outside Thurles in Co Tipperary, into a puppy nursery of sorts, alive with paw prints and wagging tails.
“The puppies were born here on 22 October, and it’s been great fun,” says Bridget. “It’s amazing, it’s just been a gift. So many people told me that all 15 wouldn’t survive when they were born, and that we were never going to be able to raise them all.” But Bridget and Robert are proving them wrong.
All of the puppies belong to Autism Assistance Dogs Ireland (AADI), and will be trained to become assistance dogs to support children with autism. Bridget is a Brood Dog Caring volunteer with AADI, which means that she is supporting a brood in nurturing the next generation of assistance dogs.
The brood, Omma is an AADI dog and she came to live with Bridget and her family last October. “Omma actually came from Croatia when she was four months old. She was fostered in Dublin until she was a year old and she came here. She is a great dog but 15 puppies is quite exceptional.
“She took it in her stride. Labour started at 4.30am, and she had them all delivered by lunchtime.”
The past eight weeks has seen the entire family step in to raise the puppies, including Bridget, Robert, their three children and Bridget’s sister. They have also been hugely supported by the staff at AADI.
“It’s been madness in the house,” she says with a laugh. “But I only did it because these dogs will all go on to become support dogs.
“We had to pretty much stay with them, because it was such a big litter. It was about trying to keep Omma fed, so she could feed them.
“They’ve moved from our office into our sitting room but I hope they’ll be moving out of it soon, and that I get it back for Christmas.”
Left to right (from the top): Elaine Cannon, Sarah Murphy, Jessica Santos, Bridget Kirwan, and Rose Hurley with the brood of 15 golden Labradors. The ladies in red jackets are the team from Autism Assistance Dogs Ireland. \ Sophie Duchenay
While Omma will stay on in Tipperary, her “forever home”, the 15 little labs have long journeys ahead of them. The puppies will spend the next 12 months in training with volunteers in the AADI network, being socialised and exposed to the kind of environments and situations that they will encounter when they go on to support a child with autism.
“Six of the puppies will be going to Belgium to support children in schools there. Two are off to France and the rest will stay in Ireland,” explains Bridget.
“They are at a lovely stage now,” she adds, “but they are getting bigger and they need one-to-one training, they need to go to a family who will take them on to the next stage.”
Superhero litter. \ Sophie Duchenay
Volunteering
Having grown up with dogs in the house, when Bridget saw the advertisement from AADI to become a Brood Dog Caring volunteer, she thought she would be well-placed to help.
“We’ve had three Labrador rescues at different stages. I love Labs. And I figured that everybody in a family knows somebody with autism now, so I wanted to be able to do something that would make a difference in a child’s life. These dogs are designed to help. I thought that would be worth doing.”
But despite living on a farm and being very familiar with animals, rearing the puppies is no small task. “It was definitely a big surprise,” says Bridget, with a laugh. “We thought we were going to have eight or nine puppies.”
The puppies are all named after superheroes and some of them include Phoenix, Wanda, Flash, Marvel, Captain and Thor. It is a tradition of AADI to give each litter a theme, with Christmas and Taylor Swift both featuring as themes for names in the past.
“I think we’ve been so blessed to have 15 live, healthy puppies, and I’m grateful for them,” says Bridget. “And even though it’s been tough going for the last few months with so many of them, they’ve been great.”
Bridget Kirwan and Robert Hayes pictured with mum Omma and some of her litter. \ Sophie Duchenay
Training the puppies
The puppies born in Twomileborris are just 15 of approximately 60 to 90 puppies-turned-assistant-dogs that are bred in Ireland every year. Autism Assistance Dogs Ireland, based in Little Island, Co Cork, have been supporting families with autistic children for 15 years.
“Autism assistance dogs are specially trained for children at the highest risk of bolting or wandering, where even a moment of distraction can lead to real danger. These children may step away without warning, often with no sense of risk, leaving families constantly on alert,” explains David McCarthy, head of fundraising and communications at AADI.
“Our assistance dogs are safely connected to the child through a belt and guided by a parent, creating a secure three-point partnership that prevents sudden flight. This simple but powerful anchoring gives the child calmness and confidence, and it allows families to enjoy everyday life again, such as outings, walks, and moments together that once felt impossible.”
He adds that the assistant dogs also help with autistic children’s confidence, independence, communication skills and reduce stress and anxiety.
As well as the family programme where the assistance dogs support a single child, AADI also run a programme where the dog works with a number of children in a school environment, he explains.
“We primarily try and work with the schools that have an autism unit, but not every school is lucky enough to have those facilities. We do work with schools that don’t have units as well.
Bridget with proud mom Omma and one of her pups. \ Claire Nash
“We work a lot with neurodivergent kids, but particularly in primary schools, we’re seeing a lot of post-COVID anxiety and anxiety-based school refusal, so we’re working with those students.
“We had one child in the school who missed 23 days in the second half of last year, and then the dog started to work with him in September, and he hasn’t missed a day yet this year.”
Visit autismassistancedogsireland.ie
At the end of October when most farming families were preparing for the winter ahead, Bridget Kirwan and Robert Hayes were preparing for the birth of puppies – lots of them.
A large litter of 15 golden Labradors has transformed the small dairy farm in Twomileborris, just outside Thurles in Co Tipperary, into a puppy nursery of sorts, alive with paw prints and wagging tails.
“The puppies were born here on 22 October, and it’s been great fun,” says Bridget. “It’s amazing, it’s just been a gift. So many people told me that all 15 wouldn’t survive when they were born, and that we were never going to be able to raise them all.” But Bridget and Robert are proving them wrong.
All of the puppies belong to Autism Assistance Dogs Ireland (AADI), and will be trained to become assistance dogs to support children with autism. Bridget is a Brood Dog Caring volunteer with AADI, which means that she is supporting a brood in nurturing the next generation of assistance dogs.
The brood, Omma is an AADI dog and she came to live with Bridget and her family last October. “Omma actually came from Croatia when she was four months old. She was fostered in Dublin until she was a year old and she came here. She is a great dog but 15 puppies is quite exceptional.
“She took it in her stride. Labour started at 4.30am, and she had them all delivered by lunchtime.”
The past eight weeks has seen the entire family step in to raise the puppies, including Bridget, Robert, their three children and Bridget’s sister. They have also been hugely supported by the staff at AADI.
“It’s been madness in the house,” she says with a laugh. “But I only did it because these dogs will all go on to become support dogs.
“We had to pretty much stay with them, because it was such a big litter. It was about trying to keep Omma fed, so she could feed them.
“They’ve moved from our office into our sitting room but I hope they’ll be moving out of it soon, and that I get it back for Christmas.”
Left to right (from the top): Elaine Cannon, Sarah Murphy, Jessica Santos, Bridget Kirwan, and Rose Hurley with the brood of 15 golden Labradors. The ladies in red jackets are the team from Autism Assistance Dogs Ireland. \ Sophie Duchenay
While Omma will stay on in Tipperary, her “forever home”, the 15 little labs have long journeys ahead of them. The puppies will spend the next 12 months in training with volunteers in the AADI network, being socialised and exposed to the kind of environments and situations that they will encounter when they go on to support a child with autism.
“Six of the puppies will be going to Belgium to support children in schools there. Two are off to France and the rest will stay in Ireland,” explains Bridget.
“They are at a lovely stage now,” she adds, “but they are getting bigger and they need one-to-one training, they need to go to a family who will take them on to the next stage.”
Superhero litter. \ Sophie Duchenay
Volunteering
Having grown up with dogs in the house, when Bridget saw the advertisement from AADI to become a Brood Dog Caring volunteer, she thought she would be well-placed to help.
“We’ve had three Labrador rescues at different stages. I love Labs. And I figured that everybody in a family knows somebody with autism now, so I wanted to be able to do something that would make a difference in a child’s life. These dogs are designed to help. I thought that would be worth doing.”
But despite living on a farm and being very familiar with animals, rearing the puppies is no small task. “It was definitely a big surprise,” says Bridget, with a laugh. “We thought we were going to have eight or nine puppies.”
The puppies are all named after superheroes and some of them include Phoenix, Wanda, Flash, Marvel, Captain and Thor. It is a tradition of AADI to give each litter a theme, with Christmas and Taylor Swift both featuring as themes for names in the past.
“I think we’ve been so blessed to have 15 live, healthy puppies, and I’m grateful for them,” says Bridget. “And even though it’s been tough going for the last few months with so many of them, they’ve been great.”
Bridget Kirwan and Robert Hayes pictured with mum Omma and some of her litter. \ Sophie Duchenay
Training the puppies
The puppies born in Twomileborris are just 15 of approximately 60 to 90 puppies-turned-assistant-dogs that are bred in Ireland every year. Autism Assistance Dogs Ireland, based in Little Island, Co Cork, have been supporting families with autistic children for 15 years.
“Autism assistance dogs are specially trained for children at the highest risk of bolting or wandering, where even a moment of distraction can lead to real danger. These children may step away without warning, often with no sense of risk, leaving families constantly on alert,” explains David McCarthy, head of fundraising and communications at AADI.
“Our assistance dogs are safely connected to the child through a belt and guided by a parent, creating a secure three-point partnership that prevents sudden flight. This simple but powerful anchoring gives the child calmness and confidence, and it allows families to enjoy everyday life again, such as outings, walks, and moments together that once felt impossible.”
He adds that the assistant dogs also help with autistic children’s confidence, independence, communication skills and reduce stress and anxiety.
As well as the family programme where the assistance dogs support a single child, AADI also run a programme where the dog works with a number of children in a school environment, he explains.
“We primarily try and work with the schools that have an autism unit, but not every school is lucky enough to have those facilities. We do work with schools that don’t have units as well.
Bridget with proud mom Omma and one of her pups. \ Claire Nash
“We work a lot with neurodivergent kids, but particularly in primary schools, we’re seeing a lot of post-COVID anxiety and anxiety-based school refusal, so we’re working with those students.
“We had one child in the school who missed 23 days in the second half of last year, and then the dog started to work with him in September, and he hasn’t missed a day yet this year.”
Visit autismassistancedogsireland.ie
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