Autism Assistance Dogs

Your autistic child is not blind nor has a physical disability that renders them helpless, but most autistic children do lack the ability to make safe choices. Parents of autistic children are diligent, they have to be, but wouldn't be safer and give the parents more peace of mind is there was an extra set of eyes watching their child. Now there is a service that provides canine assistance to autistic sufferers. 4Paws, the first autistic assistance dog agency, has dogs that can be placed with your autistic child and with a doctor's approval no family can be turned away.

One of the most disturbing phenomena concerning autism is the child's ability to just run away. You can be washing dishes and as soon as you turn your back your child can be gone. There are normal situations in which a autistic child can make very dangerous. They can fall into a pool or run into traffic and you would hardly know they were gone. An autistic assistance dog would alert you if your autistic child was to deviate from their normal pattern. Either by barking or by gaining your attention physically, the autistic assistance dog will give you enough warning to catch the child before they put themselves into danger.

Not only will the dog alert you that the child is missing but they will help you track and find the child. The bond between the child and dog is something special and that bond will instill the dog to protect and find your lost child. This relationship tends to be odd for more autistic children because the bonding process does not happen sometimes even if it is a human relationship. The communication process sometimes even excludes the parent from a loving relationship. Testimonials from parents who have received autistic assistance dogs say that they are amazed at how the animals and children interact.

Another benefit to both parents and the child is the parent's report that the child has more feelings and compassion toward their dog then they do toward siblings or adults. The parents also state that once the dog is placed in the home, the autistic child shows less aggression and anger. In one case a parent said that there autistic child stopped showing frustration all together. Before the canine assistant the child would throw temper tantrums and physically attack the person they were angry at. Now the child, when frustrated, goes and hugs his dog until the anger goes away.

Another behavior that is trained to the assistant dog is to recognize repetitive behavior. If a child is prone to hand flapping as many autistic children demonstrate, it usually takes the touch of a parent to redirect the behavior. Now that is the dog's responsibility. The dog will gently touch or nuzzle the child when the behavior happens and the child will learn through conditioned response that they are presenting a negative behavior and the behavior will stop.

The only reason that a dog will not be placed in your home is if your home is not suitable for the pet. The cleanliness of your home and your financial ability to own a pet is severely scrutinized. Also the safety of the pet is looked at. If your child is so violent that the dog may be injured because of a temper tantrum or other aggressive action, the agency has the right to deny you a dog or to pull the dog from your home. If you have a puppy that you would like trained to be an autism assistant dog, 4Paws does offer a school in which you, the child, and the dog will be taught to work together as a team.