Homemade Dog Biscuits on Sale to Help Madison Boy

Sales have been brisk for Jack's Homemade Dog Biscuits.

Children at made hundreds of the dog biscuits and are selling them at $5 a bag to raise money to get a service dog for Jack Harter, a 6-year-old Madison boy who has a disease that leaves him with little mobility and no way to consistently communicate.

The dog biscuits will be on sale at the Downtown Concert Series on Friday and at Bottle Hill Day.

The son of Central Avenue residents, Grace parishioners and Chatham High School graduates Katie and Doug Harter, Jack has an incurable disease called connatal Pelizaeus-Merzbacher Disease.

Students in Grace Gives Back, a service group of fourth- through 10th-graders at the church, and Grace Gives Jr., for preschool through third-graders, baked and packaged the biscuits, and then sold them during the church's Coffee Hour on Sunday.

They already have raised more than $1,000. The church is trying to raise $13,000 toward the service dog. Katie Harter said Jack loves animals and they hope a service dog will bring him comfort and joy.

The homemade biscuits, which come in the shape of dog bones, hearts and J's, will be on sale in front of the , and at Bottle Hill Day on Saturday, Oct. 6.

Jack spends most of his time in his wheelchair or on his beanbag. He attends the Matheny School in Peapack and goes to Grace Church every Sunday with his parents and twin 3-year-old sisters, Meghan and Caroline.

He smiles, cries and uses small hand movements to express himself, and his family believes he understands when he is spoken to and enjoys when people talk to him.

They also have noticed his affection for friends' dogs, which is where the service dog comes in. A service dog could offer a comforting distraction when he cries, bring stuffed toys, plus companionship, social interaction, and comfort. The service dog also would be trained to alert others in the event of an emergency.

4 Paws for Ability, an organization that trains and provides service dogs for children with special needs, has a puppy that could be available to him. Supporters are asked to raise $13,000 of the $22,000 it costs to raise and train a dog.

Katie Harter has seen her son's love for animals over the years.

He lights up when therapy dogs come into the room at Matheny, she said.

And a few months ago, they went to Loantaka Brook Reservation and happened to run into a man with his horse.

The horse was huge. Jack was tiny in comparison. But the horse put his head down right next to Jack, and when he did, Jack sighed and seemed so at peace, his mom said.

"There's this connection," she said. "Animals understand that there's something different with him and know how to accommodate their behavior to that."

"We try to make him as comfortable as possible," she said. The service dog is one idea "to make his life a little better, more comfortable, more joyful."

The support from Grace Church and the community has been "amazing," Harter said. "We've just been overwhelmed by being surrounded with love and support."

Donations can be made to Grace Episcopal Church, 4 Madison Avenue, Madison, NJ 07940-1433, noting Jack Harter Fund on the memo line.