PUPPY power is being deployed to help support youngsters with learning disabilities and autism.

Lancashire Care has welcomed a new member to the team as part of an initiative to support children with complex needs.

Adorable Shoodle Ebony is being trained as a therapy dog by members of the learning disability and complex needs team at Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust.

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The 12-week-old black pup, a cross between a shih tzu and a poodle, was chosen by practitioner Zoe Yurek who found she felt less stressed after stroking her for a few minutes.

Therapy dogs have been found to be particularly valuable in supporting language and communication, reducing anxiety and helping with depression, emotional regulation, selective mutism and dog phobias.

Ms Yurek, who is the senior learning disability and complex needs practitioner at Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust, said: "We are excited by this new addition to our team and we really hope to be creative with how Ebony provides support.

"A friend and neighbour had a litter of puppies and when I would visit her, I’d always be drawn to the same little puppy.

"No matter how stressed I was, all my worries would just melt away after stroking Ebony for a few minutes.

"She was the smallest of the litter, the runt, but to me she was simply adorable and perfect.

"I have already got a dog, a Westie called Skye, so it wasn’t my intention to get another, but Ebony was just too irresistible.

"Then it suddenly occurred to me that Ebony could be the new Therapy Dog for our team. She will have some big paws to fill and I really hope she has a long career with us."

Tracey Hartley Smith, team leader, said there was an emerging evidence base to indicate that pet therapy was a low-tech, low-cost therapy that improved mood and was meaningful to hospital and community patients.

She said: "It is, therefore, an exciting development for our team which will be implemented with full consideration of health and safety and with established contracts between practitioners, the young people and their families and Ebony herself."

Ebony's mum is a shih tzu and dad a toy poodle.

The team previously had a dog who provided valuable support to a young boy with autism.