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!