“Mully, with me!” Twelve year old, Wesley Metcalfe, has just come home from school and is now taking his new best friend, Mully – aka, The Mullet, The Mull, Muldoon – swimming. Mully is a mid-size yellow lab and his new owner, Wesley, has high functioning autism. They have been waiting a long time for one another. Mully has gone through two years of training with Tender Loving Canines Assistance Dogs, Inc., a San Diego non-profit organization whose mission is to provide custom trained dogs to individuals whose lives might be bettered through the use of an assistance dog. And Wesley, whose main challenges are social, now has a friend who adores him for who he is. Mully already is a conduit for meeting other people and is someone to turn to when he needs company or someone to hug. Wesley feeds Mully, brushes him and puts him on the bed next to him at night. He and his Mom take Mully on errands and take him walking and ball throwing. Recently they all went and saw The Grinch at San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre together. In return, Mully will eventually take Wesley to school, to movies and into stores and, with a little prompting, will help tip waitresses and put the ATM card Wesley doesn’t yet have, into the cash machine. But most important, Mully will help Wesley transition from a young man with special needs into a confident, self reliant adult. But right now they’re just best friends going swimming together. “Mully, with me!”