Windsor Police officers band together to buy a new puppy for boy with autism

When Windsor police Const. Sean Patterson first heard about 13-year-old Alex Brown’s missing dog, he couldn’t help but take notice.

The autistic boy’s three-year-old golden retriever, named Sasha, had suddenly run off while his family was near the town of Harrow, Ont., over the Thanksgiving weekend.

As the Windsor Star reports, word soon got out the dog had gone missing, and local volunteers began searching the surrounding area.

Sadly, that following Sunday Sasha’s body was found in a nearby ditch, apparently struck by a car and left for dead.

The news about his dog’s death was devastating to Alex. Back at their home in Ottawa, Sasha would faithfully spend each and every night sleeping by his side in bed, helping to calm the autistic child.

And that news also hit Patterson, a family man with a son of his own, pretty hard.

“I would be devastated if that happened to my little guy. It chokes me up. We were hoping and praying, and you knew what the family was going through. You could see the pain that poor family was enduring, especially Alex,” he said to the Windsor Star.

“I couldn’t sit by and not do anything.”

That’s why Patterson decided to enlist the help of his fellow officers, in an effort to raise the necessary funds to buy a brand new dog that Alex could call his own.

And the donations have already started pouring in. Soon Patterson and his platoon should have enough money for a seven-week-old yellow labrador puppy, who the Brown family has decided to name him Jake.

It’s a kind gesture that Alex’s mother, Jackie Brown, says her family won’t soon forget after the loss of their cherished pet.

“The support is amazing,” she said. “Sasha has inspired giving in people and a kindness in people that is incredible to see.”