Keydon, Kentucky
Photos and Interview by Keydon
Hello I'm with my sister Paige and my project is on how special needs kids and people on the spectrum can make a difference in the world and just because they're different doesn't mean they are left out. Okay Paige you want to say hello? Hello. Okay first things first I'd want to ask what disabilities you have. I have autism and FASD syndrome. FASD syndrome is Fetal Alcohol Syndrome a
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spectrum disorder. Okay and then you make dog treats. When did you start making dog treats? I started my dog treat business at 18 on January of 2022. Okay that's great. Why did you start making dog treats? Why did you start making dog treats? Why did you randomly say I'm gonna make dog treats? Because my dog is allergic to chicken and she can't have chicken so I started making peanut
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butter dog treats because she's not allergic to peanut butter and she can have peanut butter. Uh-huh and then you sell them in bags for how much? For $1 per bag. And who do you sell them to? There's eight in each bag. And who do you sell them to? My customers. And that'd be like friends and family? And friends and family. And then this weekend you have a big expo? I have a dog expo this
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weekend on Saturday. And you're gonna be selling? I'm going to be selling my dog treats. Uh-huh okay. What's your favorite part about making your dog treats? The money or is it something else? My favorite part of making my dog treats is making my money and getting stuff that my service dog needs. Mm-hmm okay. What is the most important thing that you've learned from making these dog treats?
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Most important thing that I learned was that dogs that are on special diets can get some healthier treats that don't have bad stuff in them that is actually better for them. Like they can have peanut butter dog treats, peanut butter banana, and peanut butter and blueberry dog treats. Peanut butter banana dog treats are healthy and they have vitamins and nutrients that dogs need.
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So you're pretty much saying like what you've learned is even though the dog has allergies you've worked around that and still made her treats good even though she can't have chicken? Yes. Okay what would you say to other people that's on the spectrum like that has autism who like doubt themselves and think that because they're on the spectrum means they can't do anything? Me with autism I
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try to cope with my anxiety and I try to get through life like different challenges in life that are hard for me and with my FASD syndrome I have a hard time with my memory and I forget things sometimes. I forget a lot of things. I have a hard time recognizing people that know me and sometimes I just have a hard time with my anxiety and that is why my parents got me a service dog to help me
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cope with my anxiety when I go out because my service dog helps me a lot and I want to encourage people with autism that they that I hope that one day they can get them a service dog to help them too with their anxiety and their panic attacks or anything that they have that they need the dog for. So pretty much saying there's help and that they're not alone? Yes. And that you have
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issues and that you've overcome them? Yes I've had issues in the past and I got better and I overcome I overcame them and I wanted to do better by taking CBD which is a medicine that can help you be calm with it and help you cope with your anxiety better with CBD because CBD helps a lot of people in different ways and it's a good medicine to take if you have anxiety. Okay thank you Paige. One
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more thing. Okay. Another thing is my dog treat business is not expensive at pet stores. The dog treats at pet stores are really expensive but the ones I sell are $1 per bag. Feel free to come on out to the dog expo and get some treats from me for your dog and and yeah that's all I had to say. Okay and I'll put the email to email mom if they want to buy some dog treats. Yes. Okay thank you. You're welcome.