CONCERNS have been raised about an Irish-based dog training company by two North-East families with autistic children.

Chris Ball of Bishop Auckland and Mark Austin of Shildon, ordered service dogs from Service Dogs Europe (SDE) to help guide and comfort their autistic sons.

Mr Hall and his wife, Louise ordered a specially-trained service dog for four year-old, Zaine. They paid the £500 deposit and were busy fundraising the remaining £7,000 when they discovered the company had suspended its dog training until January 2016.

Mr Hall asked for his deposit back, unhappy with the delay and lack of information about the dog he was due to receive, but SDE, which provides dogs for adults and children with a wide range of disabilities and needs, has failed to contact him.

Mr Austin has already received his dog and was due to return it to Ireland to undergo specialist training in August in line with his contract.

He is also unhappy at the delay and has been offered the option of keeping the dog without undergoing the training - something, he points out, he has already paid for.

Despite his demands SDE has not refunded any part of his fees, which totalled £6,500.

SDE, which supplies dogs for people with a variety of disabilities in France, the US, Ireland and Britain said it had been forced into suspending its dog training due to what it described as "ill-founded internet rumours" about the company’s competence.

These, they claim, were aired on Joe Duffy’s Liveline show on Irish radio station, RTE Radio One.

A message on the company's Facebook page on August 31 read: "Everyday the stories get bigger and wilder with those involved trying their best to have a worse story then the previous one.

"My staff have been accosted in the street sworn at and told they are scum.

"We have only ever tried to help, no more no less. When things have gone wrong we have tried all we can to help [and] when this help has been refused time after time we leave the decision to the person or family with the dog.

"This is a witch hunt with no witch."

A spokesman for the company added: "We are still trading and we are trying to sort out the problems we have had with individual clients. We are speaking to Mr Ball and Mr Austin but we can't talk about the private business between us and our clients."