Greetings,
I'm watching ABC's Good Morning America, and there's a story on about dogs being trained as companions for autistic children. It seems to be helpful for the children, but there's not a lot of data as of yet.
I haven't been able to find a link to the story yet on ABC's website yet; I'll look for it later today.
-BobB
I just found a website for a place that trains "Service dogs" for "autistic children" in the US. Family pays $13,500.oo for a dog. Sheesh.
Apparently the advantage is that if a dog is labeled a "service dog" for a "disabled person", then under US law the dog can go with the kid anywhere, including into school. Lucky kids. I could never get away with that.
Hmmm, I went to the local animal shelter and got mine for $25. He was fully trained, up on vaccinations, microchiped, one year dog licence included.
Screw paying $13,500
I love dogs and wanted our family to have one but my husband was not into it. I convinced him, through articles about service dogs that a dog would be really great for our John. He always loved animals. The only thing that he had troubles with in regards to animals /dogs cats, seheep, horses was that he would have to wash his hands after touching them. He would hold his hands up like he was covered in cooties. He started to grow out of that a bit and then switched to sniffing his fingers and acting generally concerned about the smell that got on them. We hope that his own puppy, (kept clean) would help him overcome that. It did, he doesn't even worry about smelly dogs (not any more than anyone else would - we of course still wash). Nayway, that was not the main reaon to get a dog, John expressed interest in having a dog be his friend. they are great for that. He also wanted to take care of someone else - to make him feel more in control. As it turns out our dog Sydney can sense when someone is feeling high strung or anxious and she goes over to them, this tunrs out to have a very calming effect. (SHe calms my hyper mother down by distracting her, she melts the stress off my husband and probably lowers his blood pressure just by wqagging her tail at him. Dogs have lots of benefits. John also hopes one day to have the dog sleep with him. John always sleeps better when someone is near him, if not, heavy covers, - even having breathing in the same room makes him more calm, it grounds him. Our dog Sydney (a mini australian shepherd) is 2 years old now (john is 11) and we told him that when she was 2 she would be old enough to be trusted to be in their rooms to sleep -(she finds small toys and chews them less and less) So the kids can have her with them as a priveledge. Since John keeps his room the cleanest - no toys for her to eat, he is starting to be allowed to have her with him. This may help him relax a bit more about his covers - since he will want her to be comfortable. He is very picky about his room - ocd like about his covers/shelves being straight etc., So not only is our dog, our family member she is also John's friend - she stays closer to him then either of the other kids. (She is also very calm and mellow and loving with him where she is more rambuncious with the other two. John is so intuitive about what she likes and what she is feeling - he has a real way with animals. I think that dogs have alot of similarities to autistics - keen sense of smell, keen hearing - can sense people's intentions. My point is this, Sydney could actually qualify as a therapy dog. She is just a regular dog, smart, cute, sweet but so helpful I can imagine how a trained dog could help be of great benefit to autistics or any on else. Have you seen the dogs who can tell when their owners blood sugar if off by smell and wakes them or a family member before they have seizures? That is amazing!
yes, but believe me, it is essential that they ARE of the same sex, as my friend found out, to my great amusement.
damn, don't they?
my friend had a nightmare of it; he let the babies grow to maturity, but then kept putting them back in the wrong cage.
I'm sure you can see where this leads?
the thing is though...rats are smart enough to not outbreed their food source; if there is a food shortage, they will just..stop breeding.
that is correct; if you wash a dog too much, you wash all the oil out, and can actually damage the fur.
Callista, very well put. Our pet ( hesitant to use the word trained) dog does all those things to varying degrees, no one taught her anything. She is an austrailian shepherd and they are known to be extremely sociable dogs and they also need to have a job - it is just who they are, her whole family is her job, she naturally figured out john first cuz John focused on her more than my other two kids did. Very happy results all around... As far as her being "Clean" we only cared that John have the perception that certain smells adn licking were natural and to be expected - sometimes. While John (used to) not like the smell of some dogs, he learned a tolerance for them because he knew that our dog - starting out as a puppy you know they smell nice- even puppy breath- eventually there will be days when even our dogs breath - or another dogs breath/ fur will be unusual. (Can you tell john has a very keen sense of smell) Learning tolerance is a good thing. We do know better that even once a month isn't necessary for most dogs - unless our dog goes swimming in the dirty river or rolls around on a rabbit she's good to go... :O)