Published on 12, July, 2020
Who here has an autistic assistance animal? Therapy animal, support animal or animal of any description that you find helps with your autism and in what way does the animal help you?
I think, from what I've read, it's pretty difficult to get one. There are a lot of restrictions, and it's quite costly. When you think of all the poor dogs that have no homes or have been mistreated, you would think there would be a national strategy to train these dogs and offer re-home them to autistic adults.
Yes I have been training my dog in as many ways that I think can help me, with the help of a professional trainer who works with dogs that he trains to find bombs in Somalia and has trained another to smell peanuts for another woman who is very allergic. From what I can see regarding therapy animals or even assistance animals, It's cheaper to be owner trained, there are support groups for this that I am a part of. I've heard that the dog has to want to do it/have the right temperament to do it and even many dogs bred for guide dog work end up "washing" (the term used for their failure at being guide dogs) and being re-homed, sometimes as therapy dogs. You just have to be happy with how the dog turns out, if not re-home and start again, that's not easy for most people I know. On average I think I've read that it costs around £20,000 to fully train a guide dog because the trainer has to work with them many hours a day, and have access to special training facilities like a fake kitchen, fake living room, fake zebra crossing etc all under one roof. I enquired with autistic support dog charity and they said they get about 8000 requests for a dog every year, and I think I recall them saying only 20 dogs per year pass training, so many fail.
I was disappointed to find that even officially trained Emotional Support Dogs are not allowed everywhere like a guide dog for the blind is.