In one of those moments of serendipity there were a number of questions about autism and service dogs posted this weekend at our AutismTalk page on Facebook.

So why does serendipity come into it? Well Saturday was the day we went to collect our son’s dog from Battersea Dogs Home.

As readers may know our son , John, lives with classic autism and for sometime now we have been considering getting a dog as one of his autism therapies. There have been a lot of reports that having an animal in the family can really help with a child social skills. This is a challenging area for John and is our key reason for getting a family pet.

The dog, whose name is Brunni, is a ten week old puppy. Called a Jug by those in the know she is half Jack Russell and have Pug. In fact she is not formally a therapy dog. These do exist in the UK but a very hard to get hold of. We were turned down because the people providing them in the UK needed us to live within ten miles of a particular small town.

(I’ve been told trained autism service dogs cost in the region of $6,000-$7,000 which would put off a lot of people sadly!).

So why am I writing this blog? Apart from the obvious opportunity to put up a picture of Brunni. (see above). Well , again my wife and I are looking for tips, ideas and hints as to how best Brunni can help John.

I would be great if you could use the comments box below to share any ideas and experiences you have has as to how having a family pet can help a child (or of course an adult) with autistic spectrum disorder.

While my wife had a dog when we has young this is the first time I’ve lived in house with a puppy so it is all a bit daunting. Any advice would be well received.

Even better why not share a photo of you dog using the comments box.

Many thanks in advance!