A. Lolat-Pažarauskienė is an active public figure, outspoken about the challenges faced by people with disabilities and the need for assistance dogs to help address them. She now engages in sports and her favorite activities, and in 2022, she broke a Guinness World Record during the “Hike For Dreams,” covering 14.5 kilometers with crutches in less than 10 hours. Throughout the entire challenge, Ajana was accompanied by her loyal companion - the German Shepherd Mulan.

Ajana, the founder of the “Mulan Foundation” is the first person in Lithuania to receive an individual assistance dog, which has permanently transformed the young woman’s life.

“Mulan came into my life when I was deeply broken psychologically and thought I wouldn’t be able to cope anymore.”

“I didn’t know how to communicate or express myself; I couldn’t be social or gather people around me. I was constantly angry with everyone, trying to find answers as to why people didn’t like me, why I couldn’t fit in anywhere, and why I felt so lonely. I cried all the time and didn’t want anything anymore. And that’s when I dreamed of Mulan - a small, cheerful puppy, as if telling me that everything would be alright. When I woke up, I decided to give life a second chance, so I reached out to cynologists, and they managed to find Mulan. That was the moment our journey began,” shared A. Lolat-Pažarauskienė.

Although training assistance dogs is already an established practice worldwide, having a service dog in Lithuania had been quite challenging until now, as this status has only recently been officially recognized.

“A major challenge is adapting a dog’s abilities to an individual’s needs. In Lithuania, we are the first to handle this process - from selecting a young puppy and training it to full preparation. The task is very demanding, as it requires not only going the extra mile to adopt assistance dog training knowledge from Europe and secure the necessary funding, but also dedicating significant effort to public education. That’s how the hikes, Guinness World Records, and free school visits came about. It’s all to ensure the public learns as much as possible. We still live in an environment where no one imagines what we can do, but we are capable of so much,” said the founder of the charity and support foundation.

Read the full article at LRT.lt