TW: mention of pet loss and grief, mentions of meltdowns and harmful stimming. No descriptions. Some discussion of people responding disrespectfully to Daisy while working but nothing upsetting, just ignorant.

As of the end of April, my Autism Assistance Dog, Daisy, has been fully qualified for a whole year and in that time, she’s been a huge help to me both inside and outside the house. I’d hoped to have this post written and up by the actual anniversary but then my youngest cat, Sooty, had to be rushed to the vet and put to sleep very suddenly, which left me in a complete spiral. I ended up in the worst depression pit I’ve experienced in years and it took me a while to climb out of it and even longer to get my life sorted out enough to sit down and write this. So here we finally are…

Daisy moved into our home at the beginning of March 2025 and was fully qualified two months later at the end of April. But of course, the learning – for both of us – didn’t stop there and I wanted to use the first anniversary of her qualifying as an assistance dog to write about what this first year has been like, how much we’ve learned, and how much we’ve grown as a partnership. I did post a video on the year anniversary of her moving in that I will share here too, at the end of this point, if for no other reason than because she’s really, really cute.