A 6-year-old boy will now have the chance to live like every other child his age thanks to a dog.

Rex, a golden retriever/poodle mix is no ordinary dog.

"Rex is trained to stay with him," said Wendy Morris, the president of Service Dogs for Independence.

Rex met his new owner, 6-year-old Jamey on Friday.

"He does not like animals, he doesn't like dogs," said Jamey's mother Christine Lay.

Lay went to extraordinary lengths to bring Rex home. Her son was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder at 16 months old. He doesn't speak, but Lay said occupational, speech and physical therapy is helping him out. Her biggest concern has been his love of running, especially away from her, but that's where Rex comes in.

"So the person is trained to pet the dog and have the dog calm them down," said Morris.

Rex is even going through training to be able to sniff out Jamey wherever he may be.

"In a dangerous situation, having Rex where he can go anywhere, out of harm out of any type danger will be absolutely amazing," said Lay.

Lay said this almost didn't happen. Even after fundraising through Facebook she and her husband, who just returned from Afghanistan, couldn't afford a service dog. But then, one day she got a call.

Lay was told, "We're going to fund your dog."

"And," said Lay, "It was just absolutely amazing."

That call came from the Veterans United Foundation. That's a company composed of employees who donate 1 percent of their own salary and focus on helping veterans and military families in need.

"The amount of the donation from Veterans United Foundation was about $11,000," said Sarah Hill from the foundation.

Hill and Lay agree there's no amount of money that compares to knowing Jamey's OK every minute of every day.

"Last night I slept really, really well," said Lay.

Lay said despite Jamey’s initial fear of dogs, he and Rex instantly got along.

To learn more about Veterans United Foundation go to