Published on 12, July, 2020
My nearly 6 year old high functioning lovely son suffers with anxiety and lack of confidence. We think a family dog coud really help. We understand that the opportunity to get an assistance dog is extremely slim and we are not even trying to go down that road. We have contacted a dog trainer who will assist when we find the right dog and we are prepared to find and pay for a dog ourselves. The issue is that I like recue dogs as I think that breeding dogs is often irresponsible and no more than an opportunity to make cash. However, we need the right dog. Calm, gentle, willing to play and be trained. Ideally we need a young dog. We have started looking around the rescue centres where we live in Merseyside but we can't go on a waiting list so it's about touching lucky. Any advice or shared experiences would be much appreciated. Thanks, Tracy
I APOLOGISE TO EVERYONE WHO READ MY REPLY......and for my being Autistic and my writing an Autistic - e.g. misunderstood - reply, upon a website where Autistic people are said to be not misunderstood???
Reading the replies, I could remove my post, but I want it read in a factual way; so that it may be seen (now) how the *positive* things I suggested have been ignored and all else largely used to suggest that the whole thing was an insult --- which it completely was not. I DID warn that I might come across as "rude" but nobody cared for that? Being Autistic, I get this A LOT: no matter what I say, people assume the WORST, and I did not expect it in a place like this (see the first paragraph again). I have written letters in the same way and actually had them PUBLISHED in Asperger United, and so did not expect all of this misunderstanding.
There was no "offending" intended or felt... I took the request too LITERALLY: I assumed that THIS forum/thread was the VERY FIRST place of asking about the subject (of buying a dog). Was it "cruel" to suggest reading, asking, researching about the subject elsewhere where they specialise in dog behaviour? There are even other places on NAS where they discuss "dog" +"child" so I misunderstood.
I also could not tell the difference between asking for advice, rescue dog, rescue dog, dog, rescue, or rescue dog from a rescue shelter. I suggested matters and other places to look... but then people assume that I was telling the lady off, and then for thinking about getting a dog/rescue dog in the first place? Dead wrong. The good thing about a PET would certainly be that they would not mix-up words with meaning, as being proved here. 行く.
Disallowed Cynosure - I do not wish to enter into an argument with you but as this is a place for seeking advice I would like to offer you some.
You have demonstrated that you have the ability to identify words / actions that could be construed as being 'rude' . I would suggest that your autism is not giving you as much difficulty in identifying rude behaviour as you believe.
My advice is to stop and delete your comments when you identify that there is the possibility of them being interpreted as rude. This will avoid 'misunderstandings' in the future.
As the father of an autistic child, I am very keen to identify and help my son to identify when he is 'being rude'. It may not be as easy for an autistic child / person to spot this but it is essential that they try . Failure to do so will lead to them alienating themselves and potentially leading a very lonely life.
You appear fortunate enough to be able to spot potential rude behaviour but you then appear content to 'carry on regardless' . That is something you should work on.
You have managed to push Tracy (who started this thread) away from this community and I will also be leaving after this message. It just isn't worth the wasted energy getting involved in 'discussions' such as this when your intention was simply to gain some meaningful feedback from individuals who may have followed the same process that Tracy is currently considering.
I hope you can take the time to digest this feedback and use it in a positive way.
Kind regards