Breeds for children with Autism

Dogdragoness

Happy Halloween!!
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#21
Gee, thanks :rolleyes:


Anyway, well socialized, adjusted, and trained dogs should be able to handle pretty much anything life throws at them. Even us annoying autistic people :rolleyes: I was at the river the other night and a little kid comes up out of nowhere and bear hugs Logan. Logan's reaction? Wagging his tail, kissing the kid, and generally enjoy the crap out of it.
I'm sorry but I don't recall using the word "annoying".

Anyway it's more the parent/guardians fault for not mediating interactions btw ANY child, special needs or not & a dog, I was just making sure this didn't happen here. For the dogs sake because let's face it the dog is the one who always loses.
 

Kat09Tails

*Now with Snark*
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#22
So much depends on the kid and what you expect out of the dog. There are some spectrum kids I have met who aren't safe around babies, kids smaller than themselves, or small animals. Are these kids the majority, nope, but that is the reality sometimes of having a kid on the spectrum. I know several autistic kids who have family pets quite successfully and several families where they had to get rid of or alter how the kept the family pet because their kid and family couldn't handle how their pet or child dealt with each other. I remember one family who couldn't get their kid to leave the cat box alone so the cat became an outside cat, and another whose kid started pulling/plucking their dog's fur at every opportunity - they rehomed the dog to an Aunt. I remember one family whose family dog just steadily became more and more fearful of the random loud noises and movements of their kid and eventually they did PTS the dog which caused some big problems in the family with their other children.

I guess my question would be what do you want out of the dog? What do you envision your life with your dog and your kid to be like? Is this an assistance dog or just a pet? How does your kid handle being around animals now? Do they have normal or neutral interactions with them? Are you prepared to mediate those interactions?
 

Dogdragoness

Happy Halloween!!
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#23
So much depends on the kid and what you expect out of the dog. There are some spectrum kids I have met who aren't safe around babies, kids smaller than themselves, or small animals. Are these kids the majority, nope, but that is the reality sometimes of having a kid on the spectrum. I know several autistic kids who have family pets quite successfully and several families where they had to get rid of or alter how the kept the family pet because their kid and family couldn't handle how their pet or child dealt with each other. I remember one family who couldn't get their kid to leave the cat box alone so the cat became an outside cat, and another whose kid started pulling/plucking their dog's fur at every opportunity - they rehomed the dog to an Aunt. I remember one family whose family dog just steadily became more and more fearful of the random loud noises and movements of their kid and eventually they did PTS the dog which caused some big problems in the family with their other children.

I guess my question would be what do you want out of the dog? What do you envision your life with your dog and your kid to be like? Is this an assistance dog or just a pet? How does your kid handle being around animals now? Do they have normal or neutral interactions with them? Are you prepared to mediate those interactions?
That's what I mean, the pet/dog always is the one who suffers, I just don't want this to become another statistic ... As someone who deals in rescue & has volunteered at shelters ever since I was old enough, you can understand why stories like this are maddening :wall:
 

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