autism and the GSD - Page 2

I gave a retired broodbitch...an Aly v. Vordersteinwald daughter, Fina SchH3, IPO3 to a family with a child with autism.  They took Fina as a protective family companion, and they were on a two year wait list for that service dog for autistic children mentioned above.  However, the SchH3 bitch started doing everything the service dog was supposed to do....focused her attention, refused to walk out into traffic with her, predicted seizures, and then when the girl wandered away from home (one of her issues), they took Fina out and she tracked her two legged lamb down, leading her mom directly to the house about two blocks away, scratched at the door, and the child was inside.  Now Fina IS the service dog, they took their names off the list.  They are raising up another dog to be the service dog in the future, when Fina is too old, but she's nine now, and is still in fantastic physical shape.   The dog goes everywhere with her person and has a great life.  Veronica

THEY ARE AWESOME DOGS. I had twins next door to me with autism, They would climb the block wall and yell and scream, to say hi. Sometimes get into my backyard with the dogs there and run and scream, Show up in the house. the dogs never took them to be a threat.  Use to give me a heart attack, I brought in a female rescue and she did not take to them on the fence screaming, the rott moved her away from the fence and the other GSD's would not allow her back near it, To watch them work her and keep her away from the block wall for months unitl she would ignore them was a thing of beauty, She turned out to be the one that would herd them back home to their yard when they would run into mine. I use to wonder if they were being conditioned to accept people acting odly in my yard or just showing up in the house and running thru. I found out one day, they can tell the difference and they did take control when there was threat.

I have a severely autistic son and my GSD's just love him. His manerisms can be very odd at times and the dogs are 100% safe and well behaved with him. One of dogs was recently brought in to our family as a 3 y/o  she was not raised around disabled people that I am aware of. She took to him imediately...he does no wrong in her eyes.

This is something you don't have to teach to a dog.   They have sense's we don't often discuss. I my mind the GSD does this very well, but he's not alone.   Animal's just know.

For the most part we can't see beyond our eye's.   The stories don't suprise me at all.

JMO.

I gave a friend of mine a pup for the show ring, tho not a gsd (an apbt), her neighbor has many foster children with disabilities. The dog just took to these kids and it became part of his daily regiment to go visit.

The dog needed to be placed  at a yr old as he wasnt going to cut it in the show ring. The neighbor now owns the dog and his best friend is a 7 yr old autistic girl. He follows her everywere, even onto a tampoline. He sits there while they play dress up and even sits in a stroller. He couldnt be happier.

My own shepherd has never been raised around small kids, but just loves them. Very gentle with them. I have a nephew who has autism. She has only met him twice (they live on the other side of the country) but she is glued to his side. Follows him everywere and will tolorate anything he does. His favorite thing to do with her is sit with her while he plays video games.

We have tried to get my sister in law to get him a dog but she doesnt want one. Shame too as he really enjoys her company.

Another friend of mine had to place her horse due to her illness. He went to a school for kids with disablities. The kids just love him and he is so happy to be around them.

 i want to thank everyone who contributed to this thread, as every poster brought new light to our collective souls.

                         i  want to thank the suggestion of reading material, those I received through email, and  also want to share with the very kind, and deserving folk who have already responded to this  thread so far. This is a subject that touches my heart,. Thanks to  everyone for your thoughtful replies!

I see about 4 autistic children a week and 8 Asperger children in therapy. Over the past year, I came to many of the same conclusions that Temple Grandin did in her life with autism. The book she wrote entitled, "Animals in Tranlation" is a great book. When I work with these children, much of what I do is very similar to training I do with my GSDs. We do schutzhund. But  I have mentioned this to people occasionally but they don't take me seriously. I wonder when one of my children has a melt down what would have happened if they had a psychiatric service dog available. Most school systems would not allow this or it would be a fight because of other children being allergic to animals.  With the rise in dfagnosis of autism disorders, I would bet animals like dogs will be eventually seen as another tool for these children. But right now most people are still in the dark ages when it comes to treating them.

That's awesome Paul15 - very interesting.  I've placed several of my dogs as "service" dogs for autistic-child families, and also one of my rescues is in training for this now.  I don't know much about it but know that the people with these dogs find them extremely helpful.   I have two friends who each work with dogs, training them to be assistance dogs for autistic children and their families.

molly

Eichenluft Working German Shepherds

http://workinggermanshepherd.com