-Thanks to a dog trainer who saw potential in her, an abandoned shelter puppy is now a service dog to a boy with special needs.

"Sasha likes me," exclaimed 11-year-old Mikey Wojcik of Milford, N.J., who has autism and Williams syndrome.

The syndrome is a rare genetic disorder characterized by medical problems, including cardiovascular disease, developmental delays and learning disabilities, according to the Williams Syndrome Association.

Mikey's family, which also includes mom Rosa Cortes and dad Michael Wojcik, recently adopted Sasha from the Animal Rescue League of Berks County, where the retriever mix was dropped off without a note in the summer of 2013.

Sasha was about 3 months old and so sick that she almost died.

But the pup got the medical care she needed, and her luck changed even more for the better when dog trainer Katie Burland visited the Cumru Township shelter two weeks later.

Burland attended Penn State Berks with the ARL's foster program coordinator, Marcy Tocker, who suggested that Sasha might make a good service dog.

Burland was impressed with Sasha's sweet and happy-go-lucky nature.

"It takes an incredibly special animal to become a service dog, and dogs with the necessary temperament do exist in animal shelters," said Burland, 27, of Bucks County, who also trains dogs for competition.

Burland took Sasha home and trained and cared for her for 18 months.

Previously, all the service dogs Burland trained were for people who, like her, have dysautonomia, a medical condition in which the autonomic nervous system malfunctions.

But Burland and Mikey's mom are co-workers, and Cortes brought Mikey to one of Burland's dog shows.

"He actually wrote a letter to me asking for a service dog because he thought it might help him," Burland said.

Cortes said Mikey can't talk much, so he wrote two pages.

"It was really a remarkable moment," the mother said.

After almost 1,000 hours of training, Sasha knows 32 voice and hand-signal commands.

She learned to track and locate Mikey by scent if he bolts from his family. Mikey doesn't always respond to his name or requests to return, but Sasha will.

She's also trained to calmly accept loud noises and sudden moves that Mikey might make in excitement or distress.

And if Mikey has a severe loss of control, Sasha knows she should lick his face, which provides deep-pressure therapy.

"An unexpected benefit is that he's talking more, which is amazing," Cortes said.

While Mikey answers yes/no questions easily, spontaneous speech is difficult.

But he recently made a New Year's resolution that he would work on speaking better so he can give Sasha commands.

Cortes said everyone has noticed Mikey's efforts.

"I mean, what else can I say?" Cortes said. "Sasha is a wonderful influence."

Tocker said she's thrilled Burland brought Sasha and Mikey together.

"We hope this story will inspire others to see the potential in shelter animals," she said.

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