Autism dogs, training, and exposure

[Guest guest]

I've personally spoken to Denyer of Wilderwood autism service dogs, and

she is a very sincere, knowledgeable lady who wants the best for each child she

helps (has extensive nursing experience).

For those of us who would rather put our money into one of the mainstream

interventions, such as ABA, FloorTime, or TEEACH, the option of training a

service dog at home in your child's environment is very workable with a high

success rate. By high success rate, I'm referring to those households who fall

under these two qualifications:

-have a full time parent or teacher with the child who can monitor the dog too

and understands the value of consistent, short sessions in training both child

and dog

-evidence that the child in need WANTS the dog in their personal space and there

is a positive engagement of child-dog. (Some children with autism are fixed on

one thing and are expert at drawing or other skills and could care less about a

dog !)

I train parents for free to train their child's dogs. Originally I limited this

to children with autism in Georgia where we live, but if you are willing to take

the time to make videos of behaviors occurring in your home and upload them, I

will demonstrate and / or suggest various training techniques.

A wonderful general dog training video library can also be found on

http://www.dogstardaily.com under the teachings of Dr. Ian Dunbar.

Sincerely,

Jeannie Bolstridge

B. Ed.

Certified Pet Dog Trainer-Knowledge Accessed

Member: Animal Behavior Society

http://www.sensoryfriendly.org