Does anybody have a pet dog and a child with autism?

[DogPaws]

Hi everybody, I am helping the National Autistic Society and Dogs for the Disabled to research how pet dogs may benefits children with autism. If mums out their can share their experience, it would be super helpful and it only takes 10 minutes! The link is paws.dogsforthedisabled.org/

Hi

During the long (4 year) wait for a diagnosis, & 3 failed school placements, our dog was the ONLY "therapy" my poor DS had. She's been an incredible benefit to him, and without her I think DS would be a hermit. I'll fill this in for you.

I've done the survey, our dog has been an absolute godsend. DS2 used to have a terrible phobia of dogs but overcame it following some sessions with a local dog therapy group. Having a dog has changed his world, he has made friends and grown in confidence since having a puppy and it has made him think more about caring for others and understanding their feelings (including humans' ).

suburban - how did you find a dog therapy group?

dd1 is also phobic, but has recently started saying that one day she would like a dog at home again (we used to have one, but had to rehouse after her phobia developed), nd that she wants to stop being scared of dogs (but obv she doesn't know how to)

dog therapy group might be a good next step for her

We have two dogs.

They both treat DS2 very differently from the other two - its really interesting!

Ds2 steers around them a bit but talks about them and gets quite concerned if they have to go into kennels.

I'll do the survey...

Oh. You don't not hear from people with more than one pet dog

Silverfrog - we are really lucky that there is a group near us that works with children with various disabilities and SENs, offering them the chance of training with dogs to do agility, learn about doggy care, first aid etc. Although DS2 was a bit younger than usual (they work with 10+ years normally), the leader of the group really kindly offered to help us. DS2 had been so scared, he was beginning to fear leaving the house in case he even saw a dog. Like your DD, he knew he wanted to stop being afraid but just didn't know how. The dog group helped him to understand more about how to react around dogs (ie if you jump up and down and shriek they will not go away - they will think you are playing a brilliant game and try to join in!!). Don't know where you are, but we are in London/Kent borders. I don't know much about paws but maybe they could help you find something where you are?

Just wondered how you children coped around cats as well?

DD#1 is not at all keen on dogs. We had an old dog when she was born and in her toddler years she would sometimes interact with her out of choice - the dog was settled and calm all the time. We lost her when DD#1 was 4.5yrs and replaced with a pup a year later. DD#1 is really not all that keen! The pup is now grown up and 2yrs old and much calmer than the bouncy days. She doesn't pester DD#1 at all and if we are lucky now and again DD#1 will actually pat the dog. On the other hand, if she meets an unknown dog she literally freaks out about them, so I guess DD is happier with our dog, but of course that is all relative. I don't think anything is going to help DD overcome her fear of the dogs she does not know to be honest and I don't think in our case owning a dog as a family is of any benefit to DD at all.

Hi, we've got a dog and a cat. DS and the cat may as well be joined at the hip, they are always together, even sleep together and the cat calms DS down as when he's frustrated or upset/angry he sits with the cat and pets its ears and this calms him down a lot. DS doesn't like our dog. She is too hyper, gets in his way which bugs him, and she licks him which he hates. When she barks it hurts his ears and he hates it when she tries to run alongside him.