Why You Should Get a Dog for You Autistic Child

My son is 15 and considered severely autistic. I won't go into a long definition of the autism spectrum, I will only mention that each child is unique. For example, my son is very low functioning but he's very with it in some ways and sociable in his own way. He has his own smarts which is probably only evident to myself and his sister. Nevertheless, his life is rife with difficulties that are often insurmountable. As I mentioned he is sociable, but since he can't talk and his behavior is abnormal, he never was able to have friends. He always liked being around other children but has no way of interacting with them. This has always been a very sad component of his autism.

Enter, our dog Sandy. A cute mutt from North Shore Animal League in Long Island NY. I didn't get her for my son, she was for all of us, and actually mostly for me in some ways. She is a terrier mix, red haired and now at age 2 weighs about 53 lbs. Sandy is a very sweet and affectionate dog, and she's like a buffer in our family. She has a calming affect on all of us during the very trying weeks of my son's school breaks. I was very careful not to adopt any dog that would be too small to be around my son safely. Not that he would want to hurt anyone, but his hyperactive behavior would be a danger to a small dog. I also couldn't get a big dog because my landlord said up to 60lb.s and anyway we live in an apartment so a medium size dog was perfect. Of course when you get a puppy mutt you are never sure, but the vet can approximate by looking at the puppy's paws.

My son attends a residential school but comes home for long vacations, especially over the summer. Since the first time he met Sandy, he liked her. I think he was actually intrigued and I saw him watching her. Sometimes he would see her chewing a toy and then he'd try to chew it. He has oral tactile problems so he probably liked biting that toy. He learned to tease her, he would grab her toy and dangle it in front of her, and she could never get it unless he gave it up. He would run around the apartment, baiting her to chase him. Since we have all tired of his chasing games, it was nice to have someone else do it. Sandy became his only real friend. And she still is.

An autistic child often can relate to a dog better than to a person. He finds people impossible to understand and is continuously frustrated by his inability to communicate. A dog has no need for conversation, could care less if a child is "normal" or not, it just wants to be there with the kid. There's no tension, no expectations, just mutual acceptance. Dogs are smart and Sandy is no exception. She seems fully aware the my son can't do anything for her, she treats him as if he were her younger brother. She is jealous of him, and it's really very cute and so sibling-like. Anytime I give him a ball or balloon she goes after it, when he eats she comes running to stand by the kitchen. She doesn't destroy his stuff now though, she seems to have grown up in that way. If he's upset-which is usually a very loud situation, she will get all feisty and try to distract him. Sometimes she sits on him in the car and he doesn't move or push her away at all. He also likes when she comes on his bed and plays with him. They really are very much like best friends.

Of course not every autistic child can tolerate a dog, only you know your child best. You will also need to be able to take care of a dog, and to give it at least minimal training-which we did ourselves. There are therapy dogs for autistic children, although the costs can be prohibitive, and it would not really be a family dog, it would be more of a service dog. For us, just a plain cute mutt does the trick .