Dogs and autistic/ADHD children and ABA programmes

[henryhsmum]

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone has experience of getting a puppy and having an autistic/ ADHD children. My son is autistic but diesn't have the introverted and emotional understanding difficulties which some autistics do. He is if anything more ADHD than autism - ie he is quite outgoing and very lively!

I have heard that dogs can be good therapy for SN children but I am also frightened of if I would be taking on too much with a puppy and also my son starting an ABA programme this summer. We have seen a puppy available start of summer hols ( a cavalier cross bichon) and are keen but I am also scared as he is moving from SN school to mainstream in Sept and we are doing ABA Over summer to prepare and l am terrified of upsetting the transition. At the same time he really wants a puppy!

I would love to hear others experiences of having a puppy with a child with AS/ADHD and also of anyone following ABA programmes has managed to integrate a puppy into the ABA programme?

Just to add he is diagnosed as moderate to severe ADHD ( just started Ritalin which is helping) as well as his autism diagnosis - his autism is more aspergers and his problems are to do with flexibility of thought, following instructions, understanding social rules (but he does understand emotion very well), sense of danger, hyperactivity, concentration and noise

There is a wonderful scheme PAWS that's set up specifically to educate parents in your situation. paws.dogsforthedisabled.org/ Don't rush into this - attend the PAWS workshops and let them help you select the correct dog for YOUR situation. They work with the dogs trust which gives them access to a national network of potential pooches of all breeds.

Don't get any old puppy - would you have another baby RIGHT NOW? It's an equal level of work. It's really important you choose the RIGHT specific dog for your child. (eg we chose calm, quiet and gentle as anxiety is a big issue for my lad). Don't rush your selection - It took me a year to find the perfect companion, but as she'll be with us for up to 15 years, she was well worth the wait!

We chose a whippet yearling and she's been hands down the best therapy ever for my son & is worth her weight in gold. Without her, he'd never have made the progress that he has. She has an instant calming effect on him, & has aided his social skills development to an astonishing degree. She wouldn't suit every familes lifestyle though & might be too timid for some children.

I really think you should do the PAWS workshops, as although I'm a really massive advocate of the benefits a dog can bring to children like ours, I also that it should be a really informed choice. Knowledge is power as they say.

No personal experience, but have an acquaintance who got a puppy for her autistic son (think he is about 10yo.) They had to get rid of the dog as the sons behaviour deteriorated partly I think due to copying the puppy's behaviour!!! So on that basis, it may be better to get an already trained dog rather than a puppy.

Hi,

We have done the PAWS workshops - they were very useful. We did get a Labradoodle. However, she was a nightmare! totally hyperactive, very bitey - tearing clothes not mouthing/light biting and she terrorised our cats. She went back to her breeder and basically the only way to control her was with 5 mile walks a day. I didn't think that distance was safe for a 4 month old puppy but I would equally not have had the time to do more than 1 hour of walks a day. I didn't mention her in my previous post as I am a bit embarrassed of our misjudgement when we got her.

We are thinking very careful before getting a dog again - cavachons seem to suit us as they are bred to be companions not to work and I feel a smaller calmer dog would suit our family better. I do like whippets but we have cats so i am worried about getting a breed that may be predisposed to chase small animals!

I did take training advice on the Labradoodle and the trainer said she was a very difficult to dog to train. I think we just had to be realistic about the fact that we were mismatched!

henryhsmum, you might find this article interesting:

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2160079/How-love-Billy-stray-cat-finally-brought-year-old-autistic-boy-shell.html

I'd also recommend the PAWS program. I trained their staff on autism and they're great people.

May sound mad, but sometimes a really big slow dog is better for us. I had a Bernese Mountain Dog as my first autism companion dog, and she was absolutely fantastic. Didn't need a lot of walking, very cuddly. But not cheap to keep!!

We got dd2 a pup when she was 2.5 (she has ASD and severe language delay), for us it was one of the best things we could have done for dd2, at the time dd2 was non-responsive and showed no signs of communicating with anyone, within a few weeks of having the puppy i caught dd2 wrapping her in a blanket to keep her warm, they followed each other around all day and dd2 would communicate (in her own way) to the dog. Now dd2 is getting older and her communication skills are al lot more advance she's not as close to the dog but the dog still follows her around and they are still good friends (picture on my profile taken when dd2 was 3).

Pup's are hard work though, luckily ours didn't destroy too much and was easy to house train, she is a bit naughty though and thinks she's a lap dog (she's too big to sit on a lap but she will try), she fits in well to our family, at times i think she has ASD too

I didn't know about PAWS when I chose our current dog. I'd seen my son interacting as a baby/toddler with my previous dog & when that one died at 18 it just made sense to get DS a more youthful companion. My previous dog had acted as a therapy dog for a child cahms inpatient unit in his prime, so I knew dogs had theraputic benefit.

I do have a question about PAWS - it's my understanding that via the Dogs Trust they can help families select a dog. (Our dog would be totally unsuitable for some, but is perfect for us). Is this still the case? Getting the specific dog/child match is crucial - do they actively help with this part?

In RL I'm often asked about our dog/SN kids so I'd like to be sure I'm passing on the right info.

We got our Staffy at 7 Weeks, he's 6 months old now. He's been wonderful for DD1, and often chooses to sit with her before school.

He's nutty as a fruitcake, though, but that suits DD1 who is active and would get bored with a more timid dog. She needed a dog who would beg her for attention, not one that would wait for her to go to it.

Lougle, your staffy looks very similar to mine, our is mad too but like you say 'that suits us', they are great dogs xxx

We have a great dane and he is wonderful with DS.

He isn't trained as such (beyond the usual dog training) but just seems to instinctively know what to do with him - we needed a very calm, placid sort of dog and our GD is just that, he isn't excitable or bouncy (which would have totally freaked out DS), which is perfect. The other good thing is that, GD's are so big they can take anything DS can dish out, he's not aggressive but sometimes will climb on or over the dog to get something he wants and extremedog never even flinches :)

It totally depends on your situation, would definately recommend doing a bit of research, which it sounds like you have done already!

bochead - I did apply to PAWS before we got our but unfortunately the list of kids is so long that we had to be put on a waiting list for the waiting list! That was for one of their own trained dogs though, I think they would help you select a dog that is right for you/give your training advise if you go to one of the workshops :)