It was while observing the effects of the family’s labradoodle, Ebony, on Trish Harrison’s young daughter that she first learnt about assistance dogs and how life changing they can be.
“I noticed a huge difference in her night terrors going and her anxiety calmed because of this dog,” Trish said.
“I can still see the impact the dog has on her nervous system and helping her to calm at 28-years-old.”
Ebony was part of an assistance dog breeding program and Trish thought becoming her guardian in 2009 would be a great way to teach her three homeschooled children about topics such as biology and business.
“It was a whole family thing back then and it grew from there,” she said of her business, Misty Mountain Labradoodles.
“When we had a litter, every child had a job. It was very hands on for the family and a lovely way to expose children to puppies, birthing and biology.
“It was much to my son’s disgust. He did one litter and said that was it.
“He said he could never eat spaghetti bolognaise again. The mother eats the placenta because it is a natural pain relief and full of nutrients and that was the bit that grossed him out.”
Over time Trish said she noticed the dogs were intuitively picking up what was needed in a family situation and it made her curious about assistance dogs.
“I was very interested to see what would happen if I actually started to train these dogs as puppies, so I started being intentional about raising them for emotional and assistance work,” she explained.
“Then the education process began.
“I did a lot of research and was drawn to Puppy Culture in the United States. She (Jane Messineo Lindquist) was intentionally breeding backed by science.
“I threw myself into it and she took me down a rabbit hole.”
Trish said there is no regulation on training assistance dogs, but she has come up with a program to help people get one fully registered with the government.
Under Trish’s program people don’t have to wait up to five years for an assistance dog. She can get a dog registered in 12-18 months.
Trish even became the first person in Australia to register a dog, Simba, at just 13 months old, fully supported by the NDIS.
Simba went to live in Brisbane with Christa, who is blind and, in a wheelchair, enabling her to live independently and even alerting her of imminent seizures.
Simba is also the star of Trish’s book, Simba the Super Assistance Dog which teaches children about how to interact with an assistance dog when they see them out working.
“I am astounded at what little we know about what dogs can do for us and I think there is a huge potential that we haven’t tapped into yet,” Trish said.
While she admits to working on some aspect of the business every day – from exploring genetics and temperaments of each dog before mating to selecting exactly the right dog for each person – Trish is also enjoying the new acreage she and her husband, Phil, bought a year ago.
Phil is interested in permaculture, so they grow much of their own vegetables and have a lot of nut trees while Trish puts on a women’s circle once a month.
“It’s an opportunity to connect with yourself and other women,” she said.
“It’s really important for women to support each other. I learnt the hard way. I had long covid for 18 months and learnt the importance of slowing down and looking after my body and nervous system and the connection with other healthy women was my path to healing.
“I want to share that with other people.”
In the future, Trish hopes to open the property further for more healing modalities.
“We were looking around for somewhere to settle. We went for a bushwalk and came out near a real estate agent, saw a house in the window and by Monday we put in an offer, and it had been accepted,” she recalled.
“We didn’t hesitate. We immersed ourselves in the community and got involved in Friends of Tamborine Mountain looking after the rainforest.
“Back then it was very remote and there were hardly any families up here when I had my first daughter, but we loved it.”
Trish said there is a lot more on offer up here and she takes advantage of the yoga classes, sound healing sessions, the local gym and regularly joins Tamborine Mountain Runners and Walkers.
“I love the quietness and the rainforest and beauty,” she said.
“I love the friendly aspect. You can go down the street and say hello to someone and have a conversation even if you don’t know them.”
