Re: Has anyone tried a Service Dog?

[Guest guest]

We also have a black lab in training, her name is Kengie and she is a year old this month. Our service dog still lives with her puppy raiser, we are looking at getting her full time in Nov. We get to visit with her often as our puppy raiser lives close and we also get full day visits which help my son out. I also go to training class with my puppy raiser every Sunday as I want to be a part of the training along with how to work with the service dogs. I think service dogs for kids with aspergers is a great idea, there are many benefits to having the dog. Our dog will eventually be able to do deep pressure, calm my son when he becomes agitated and to help wake him in the morning. I am sure we will find other job's for her to do in order to help my son, but these are the first on our list. The other wonderful thing about the dog's, they are great for a child's social skills, we allow people to pet Kengie as long as they ask and people wanting to pet the dog almost always start a conversation with my son, this is great practice for him with the social skills. Good luck with your service dog, you child will benefit greatly.

Dawn

[Guest guest]

congratulations! I just rescued a beagle puppy, 8 wks old for my 12 year old to try and help him.

From: <teamjakob06@...> Sent: Wed, May 12, 2010 7:56:11 AMSubject: ( ) Has anyone tried a Service Dog?

We are excited because today Jakob gets his service dog {which is still in training}! She is a sweet 2 1/2 year old full blooded Black Lab named Nestle. She has been trained to do simple commands and the rest of her training will be done by Jakob as she needs to be around him 24/7 in order for her to be trained appropreiately. I was wondering if any of you have thought about this? I have done a lot of research and found that it has help numerous children with Aspergers Syndrome. Jakob will also be teaching her Agility training as well. Just like on CBS news back in 2006 when an 11 year old Aspergers child trained his dog to do so. Its great for Speech Therapy. We will also be doing the Read to Rover Program. I will be blogging about he training and how everyone is doing. Please let me know your comments and thoughts! Hope everyone has a great day!7 year old son DX Aspergers Syndrome, ADHD, and Anxiety

Disorder

[Guest guest]

This is great that you have this service available to you. Sent from my iPhoneOn 13/05/2010, at 12:30 AM, azucarmama68@... wrote:

We also have a black lab in training, her name is Kengie and she is a year old this month. Our service dog still lives with her puppy raiser, we are looking at getting her full time in Nov. We get to visit with her often as our puppy raiser lives close and we also get full day visits which help my son out. I also go to training class with my puppy raiser every Sunday as I want to be a part of the training along with how to work with the service dogs. I think service dogs for kids with aspergers is a great idea, there are many benefits to having the dog. Our dog will eventually be able to do deep pressure, calm my son when he becomes agitated and to help wake him in the morning. I am sure we will find other job's for her to do in order to help my son, but these are the first on our list. The other wonderful thing about the dog's, they are great for a child's social skills, we allow people to pet Kengie as long as they ask and people wanting to pet the dog almost always start a conversation with my son, this is great practice for him with the social skills. Good luck with your service dog, you child will benefit greatly.

Dawn

[Guest guest]

Ok, now I am depressed...

We had a one year old yellow lab mix that my husband forced us to get rid of 3

months ago. Our 8 yr aspie/ADHD daughter LOVED this dog...actually taught her

tricks and everything. Didn't even know that dogs were helpful to kids with

Aspergers.

[Guest guest]



I, too, am using a service dog. We also have a dog in training for our oldest boy. Since I am a certified trainer, I don't need to take him anywhere, which is important, because Jazz can have hands-on involvement.

If anyone would like pics of our horse or our service dogs, just shoot me a message off-group, and I'll send pics and videos.

I don't want to seem like I'm bragging, but I am, because I've seen the power these animals have. I'm on my forth service dog and my tenth horse.

Chesa

Re: ( ) Has anyone tried a Service Dog?

This is great that you have this service available to you. Sent from my iPhone

On 13/05/2010, at 12:30 AM, azucarmama68aol wrote:

We also have a black lab in training, her name is Kengie and she is a year old this month. Our service dog still lives with her puppy raiser, we are looking at getting her full time in Nov. We get to visit with her often as our puppy raiser lives close and we also get full day visits which help my son out. I also go to training class with my puppy raiser every Sunday as I want to be a part of the training along with how to work with the service dogs. I think service dogs for kids with aspergers is a great idea, there are many benefits to having the dog. Our dog will eventually be able to do deep pressure, calm my son when he becomes agitated and to help wake him in the morning. I am sure we will find other job's for her to do in order to help my son, but these are the first on our list. The other wonderful thing about the dog's, they are great for a child's social skills, we allow people to pet Kengie as long as they ask and people wanting to pet the dog almost always start a conversation with my son, this is great practice for him with the social skills. Good luck with your service dog, you child will benefit greatly.

Dawn

[Guest guest]

We tried but didn't end up with a great situation. I was told I would

" participate " in training. Then they had us buy the dog and take him home

completely without ANY training and told me they would train ME to train him.

Then they left me to my own devices for about 3 months. Then they told me I

wasn't living up to my end of the bargain when I was too overwhelmed with my

toddler (age 2) and my son with asperger syndrome (age 5 and an escape artists

likely to dart into traffic at any moment)to do all the training on my own. It

was horrible for about 3 years and the dog never did get trained to the point of

being a decent service dog. He's a very sweet pet but still not well-trained

enough to be a service dog now he's 8 years old. It was a headache. Anyway, I

was clueless and the dog was untrained when we got him. I was glad to see your

dog has had the basics already. That is a HUGE thing. I would love to see the

blog can you send a link?

Miriam

>

> We are excited because today Jakob gets his service dog {which is still in

training}! She is a sweet 2 1/2 year old full blooded Black Lab named Nestle.

She has been trained to do simple commands and the rest of her training will be

done by Jakob as she needs to be around him 24/7 in order for her to be trained

appropreiately. I was wondering if any of you have thought about this? I have

done a lot of research and found that it has help numerous children with

Aspergers Syndrome. Jakob will also be teaching her Agility training as well.

Just like on CBS news back in 2006 when an 11 year old Aspergers child trained

his dog to do so. Its great for Speech Therapy. We will also be doing the Read

to Rover Program. I will be blogging about he training and how everyone is

doing. Please let me know your comments and thoughts! Hope everyone has a great

day!

>

>

>

> 7 year old son DX Aspergers Syndrome, ADHD, and Anxiety Disorder

>

[Guest guest]

even my semi-trained dog has been a help. The first and most spectacular change

was when suddenly understood the need to get a person's attention before

talking to them. He started saying the dog's name. Then he started going " Mom "

whenever he needed to say something with me and it just floored me. Spanky is a

friend to and he barks when the bus arrives and he sleeps with at

night so doesn't feel scared at night or lonely. If anything is going

wrong the dog barks. When Rayleigh was 2 she was asleep in her room and the

door was closed. I forgot to set the baby monitor. About an hour later the dog

started barking insanely and running up stairs and running down and barking at

me then running back up in a way that was clearly dog language for " something is

wrong up here, come and see! " So I did and when I got upstairs I could hear

Rayleigh crying. Having said this, though, I can't say I'd be able to tolerate

most dogs. I am allergic. We have a standard poodle. If I'd had my way we'd

have gotten something smaller.

Miriam

>

>

>

> Ok, now I am depressed...

> We had a one year old yellow lab mix that my husband forced us to get rid of 3

months ago. Our 8 yr aspie/ADHD daughter LOVED this dog...actually taught her

tricks and everything. Didn't even know that dogs were helpful to kids with

Aspergers.

>

[Guest guest]

>

>

> We tried but didn't end up with a great situation. I was told I would

> " participate " in training. Then they had us buy the dog and take him

> home completely without ANY training and told me they would

I feel sad to hear you had trouble with training, but I believe the animals do

wonders even with minimal. I'm having a good experience with my service cat,

" " . Well I didn't find anything on training him but he has trained me

well. After all, I'm the patient here As a likely-Aspie of 39 who never

heard of it until starting a new therapy at 37, I certainly have relied on

connecting with animals my whole life because I had nothing else. Al only trust

my father and me, nobody else.

I am glad to know about Asperger's now because my son who was diagnosed at 11 is

getting a lot more help to develop skills than I did.

[Guest guest]

Our dog, despite the training difficulties, is actually wonderful. He loves

and Rayleigh and is great with them. He sleeps on 's bed with him. He

barks to let us know the bus has arrived (not consistently enough)and pulls

by the arm to get him out the door. He's very gentle with putting his mouth on

us. I don't the the mouthy behavior and have tried to get rid of it, but there

isn't any aggression in it. He uses his mouth like a hand and enjoys it.

After goes out the door the dog watches him until he gets on the bus. He

probably could have been a spectacular service dog with the right training but I

wasn't a person who could do it. It meant coordinating my time, putting my

daughter in daycare and physically doing things I'm unable to do. My nervous

system is a little bit off just like 's. I don't have enough asperger

traits for a dx. I may have NVLD or just sensory integration dysfunction and I

also have ADHD only I'm not hyperactive. I'm super clumsy and trying to train

the dog while I'm walking and giving him treats and not falling over was

impossible. The people who were working with us really didn't care that it was

difficult for me. It was bad. But the dog is great.

Miriam

> >

> > We tried but didn't end up with a great situation. I was told I would

> > " participate " in training. Then they had us buy the dog and take him

> > home completely without ANY training and told me they would

>

>

> I feel sad to hear you had trouble with training, but I believe the animals do

wonders even with minimal. I'm having a good experience with my service cat,

" " . Well I didn't find anything on training him but he has trained me

well. After all, I'm the patient here As a likely-Aspie of 39 who never

heard of it until starting a new therapy at 37, I certainly have relied on

connecting with animals my whole life because I had nothing else. Al only trust

my father and me, nobody else.

>

> I am glad to know about Asperger's now because my son who was diagnosed at 11

is getting a lot more help to develop skills than I did.

>

[Guest guest]

Sorry if I missed it in this thread, but are there any specific groups or

agencies that provide service animals, particularly for children with

Asperger's? We're near Philadelphia, if that helps narrow it down. Thanks.

>

> We are excited because today Jakob gets his service dog {which is still in

training}! She is a sweet 2 1/2 year old full blooded Black Lab named Nestle.

She has been trained to do simple commands and the rest of her training will be

done by Jakob as she needs to be around him 24/7 in order for her to be trained

appropreiately. I was wondering if any of you have thought about this? I have

done a lot of research and found that it has help numerous children with

Aspergers Syndrome. Jakob will also be teaching her Agility training as well.

Just like on CBS news back in 2006 when an 11 year old Aspergers child trained

his dog to do so. Its great for Speech Therapy. We will also be doing the Read

to Rover Program. I will be blogging about he training and how everyone is

doing. Please let me know your comments and thoughts! Hope everyone has a great

day!

>

>

>

> 7 year old son DX Aspergers Syndrome, ADHD, and Anxiety Disorder

>

[Guest guest]

Amazing, isn't it? I'm glad to hear that they have that connection. It is what I

experienced with my cat whom I rescued from an animal shelter where I was

working. About $90 for a cat... was he worth it to me? Definitely :-D

But the magic is not actually in the training. The major reason they need

trained is so you can legally take them with you everywhere (like church and

stores). The magic is in the connection between patient and animal (whether that

be dog, horse, rabbit, or my beautiful cat). Somehow the connection helps me

(and others) to open up our mind, and see things in new ways. Also when I felt

way too much anxiety, I sat in the van I gave him and he jumps on my lap. We

comfort each other. Al doesn't even trust anyone else but my father, who also is

'different' and has raised animals all his life.

The funny thing about my dad is he has all the symptoms too but being old now

he's happy with his life. He got the best of all the worlds: His dad was a

farmer with only a few animals, he went on to be computer programmer at Brigham

Young University instead of farming because of injury, and he says he never

worried that he didn't have friends. All those were typical signs of the

disorder, yet nobody worried about him nor me. I often wonder why he seemed to

have everything but I didn't. I guess there's a crucial time where one get's a

good stable job because someone though, " he's unusual but he's a genius " . Then

we are happy because we have a 'safe' place to go to work every day and find a

normal routine there.

But we always need our animal to stay connected to. My dad still keeps one goat

even though he's getting weak and has trouble getting out there to feed her

sometimes. With all of us who find any difficulty in ASD, having a pet is like a

magic key unlocking our mind.

>

> Our dog, despite the training difficulties, is actually wonderful.

[...]

> and pulls by the arm to get him out the door. He's very gentle

[...]

>

> Miriam

[Guest guest]

There are a few, but I am much morein favor of training your own. This coming from a dog trainer who has trained everything from service and guide dogs to dogs for the military, search and rescue and police departments.

I will look up some organizations for you and email you privately, if that's ok?

--

Chesa Devon

( ) Re: Has anyone tried a Service Dog?

Sorry if I missed it in this thread, but are there any specific groups or agencies that provide service animals, particularly for children with Asperger's? We're near Philadelphia, if that helps narrow it down. Thanks.>> We are excited because today Jakob gets his service dog {which is still in training}! She is a sweet 2 1/2 year old full blooded Black Lab named Nestle. She has been trained to do simple commands and the rest of her training will be done by Jakob as she needs to be around him 24/7 in order for her to be trained appropreiately. I was wondering if any of you have thought about this? I have done a lot of research and found that it has help numerous children with Aspergers Syndrome. Jakob will also be teaching her Agility training as well. Just like on CBS news back in 2006 when an 11 year old Aspergers child trained his dog to do so. Its great for Speech Therapy. We will also be doing the Read to Rover Program. I will be blogging about he training and how everyone is doing. Please let me know your comments and thoughts! Hope everyone has a great day!> > > > 7 year old son DX Aspergers Syndrome, ADHD, and Anxiety Disorder>

[Guest guest]

I am also interested in those organizations too. We are getting a golden

retriever for our son with aspergers, and want to train it. We live in utah, do

you know about stuff that would help us? thanks

Sara

Re: ( ) Re: Has anyone tried a Service Dog?

There are a few, but I am much morein favor of training your own. This coming

from a dog trainer who has trained everything from service and guide dogs to

dogs for the military, search and rescue and police departments.

I will look up some organizations for you and email you privately, if that's ok?

--

Chesa Devon

( ) Re: Has anyone tried a Service Dog?

Sorry if I missed it in this thread, but are there any specific groups or

agencies that provide service animals, particularly for children with

Asperger's? We're near Philadelphia, if that helps narrow it down. Thanks.

>

> We are excited because today Jakob gets his service dog {which is still in

training}! She is a sweet 2 1/2 year old full blooded Black Lab named Nestle.

She has bee

[Guest guest]

Hi,

I'm new here and this is my first post. We've been thinking about this for a few

months and I recently enquired to a local association to see if my 9 year old

Aspie daughter would qualify for a service dog. I think that a service dog would

be wonderful for her I'm sure and I would feel more comfortable letting her some

small freedoms if she had a dog that could accompany her in the years to come.

I do have questions about service dogs though. My first question is how do

families manage with a service dog for one child in a family with other children

who also love dogs? I have two other NT kids who would love to have a dog and

they would find it very hard to understand and respect the boundary of the

special relationship between a dog and their sister. Just how much can others

play with a service dog?

My DD loves dogs but isn't very good at the moment at being appropriately

affirmative with them (or with people for that matter). Her aunt has a couple of

labs and when DD walks with them, she yells out commands too loud, too often or

when unnecessary or repeats them often and obviously the dogs don't obey her.

She also has sensory issues and touches or hugs too tightly. I guess this is

stuff that gets sorted out in the training? Can service dogs get confused by

owners who aren't clear or appropriate in their commands and gestures?

Looking forward to reading about other experiences.

>

> We are excited because today Jakob gets his service dog {which is still in

training}! She is a sweet 2 1/2 year old full blooded Black Lab named Nestle.

She has been trained to do simple commands and the rest of her training will be

done by Jakob as she needs to be around him 24/7 in order for her to be trained

appropreiately. I was wondering if any of you have thought about this? I have

done a lot of research and found that it has help numerous children with

Aspergers Syndrome. Jakob will also be teaching her Agility training as well.

Just like on CBS news back in 2006 when an 11 year old Aspergers child trained

his dog to do so. Its great for Speech Therapy. We will also be doing the Read

to Rover Program. I will be blogging about he training and how everyone is

doing. Please let me know your comments and thoughts! Hope everyone has a great

day!

>

>

>

> 7 year old son DX Aspergers Syndrome, ADHD, and Anxiety Disorder

>

[Guest guest]

Hey everyone!

Update on the Service Dog.. Well, as it turns out Nestle didn't not make a good fit for my family. As soon as she barked, my son hit the floor crying, not to mention she was well over 100lbs and with any dog no matter how well trained they are, if something caught her eye, she could be gone in a second and with my son attached. So her family took her back and they really didn't want to let her go to begin with.

The Good News: Jakob did get his Service Dog! Only we decided, even though I didn't want to, to get a puppy that well grow with Jakob. So we got an Australian Shepard/ Lab mix! Great mix because Shepard's are breed for guidance and herding. While Labs are bred for retrieving. So why is this a good mix.. Well, with my son who is spontaneous and impulsive, if he were to stray the dog will find him. Ultimately though, this dogs sole purpose is to just be with Jakob. She is to offer support in Social Skills, Agility, and Independence.

Training for her hasn't and will not be easy, but the results, which have already been positive are remarkable. At 12 weeks and in one day of training she sits, stays and comes. These commands are easy for a dog to understand, but keep in mind that at 12 weeks a puppy is learning about its environment, so it is easily distracted. Just keep her focus with a squeaky toy and be sure to reward her with a treat.. I am going to start a blog/ journal about this soon..

As far as the other children go, keep in mind this is your child's life long friend and pet even though it has a goal/purpose. Allow all your children to enter act with the dog and be apart of what you are doing, never ever let one child's disability take away from the other children in the household. You have to help them understand the purpose of the dog without making them feel like the dog isn't theirs too. Service dogs need time to play too..

With training {which she needs to be a part of from day one} she will learn to control her tone. You can have the dogs trained to "guide her". She will not be walking around shouting out commands, these dogs are trained to pretty much follow her where ever she goes. The only command she will really need to use is sit. Which if the dog is well trained, it will do it automatically. If she sits, the dog sits. If she lays down, the dog lays down.

With the sensory training will help her develop self control. The dogs will also build up tolerance which is one main reason why I would go with a puppy in your case.

Of course you have to remember that Service Dogs still need to play and be a dog.. They need their own toys and yes puppies will still explore and chew, so make sure you have a few chew toys so that the dog can differentiate what she can chew or can't. Too many toys will result her a unclear understanding and she will chew everything.

Well, I hope that helps out and I am glad we found our match! Good Luck everyone!

Blessings,

TeamJakobSupport children with Aspergers,With your support their is no limit to Jakob's success!!

From: Andree <mam78@...> Sent: Sun, May 16, 2010 11:24:43 AMSubject: ( ) Re: Has anyone tried a Service Dog?

Hi, I'm new here and this is my first post. We've been thinking about this for a few months and I recently enquired to a local association to see if my 9 year old Aspie daughter would qualify for a service dog. I think that a service dog would be wonderful for her I'm sure and I would feel more comfortable letting her some small freedoms if she had a dog that could accompany her in the years to come. I do have questions about service dogs though. My first question is how do families manage with a service dog for one child in a family with other children who also love dogs? I have two other NT kids who would love to have a dog and they would find it very hard to understand and respect the boundary of the special relationship between a dog and their sister. Just how much can others play with a service dog?My DD loves dogs but isn't very good at the moment at being appropriately affirmative with them (or with people for that

matter). Her aunt has a couple of labs and when DD walks with them, she yells out commands too loud, too often or when unnecessary or repeats them often and obviously the dogs don't obey her. She also has sensory issues and touches or hugs too tightly. I guess this is stuff that gets sorted out in the training? Can service dogs get confused by owners who aren't clear or appropriate in their commands and gestures?Looking forward to reading about other experiences. >> We are excited because today Jakob gets his service dog {which is still in training}! She is a sweet 2 1/2 year old full blooded Black Lab named Nestle. She has been trained to do simple commands and the rest of her training will be

done by Jakob as she needs to be around him 24/7 in order for her to be trained appropreiately. I was wondering if any of you have thought about this? I have done a lot of research and found that it has help numerous children with Aspergers Syndrome. Jakob will also be teaching her Agility training as well. Just like on CBS news back in 2006 when an 11 year old Aspergers child trained his dog to do so. Its great for Speech Therapy. We will also be doing the Read to Rover Program. I will be blogging about he training and how everyone is doing. Please let me know your comments and thoughts! Hope everyone has a great day!> > > > 7 year old son DX Aspergers Syndrome, ADHD, and Anxiety Disorder>