Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Going to the dogs

There was a news story on Good Morning America this morning. It was about children with autism and service dogs. You can read and see the story here . The dogs that are used are typically Labradors. They are very kind, patient and friendly dogs. We had two different labs when I grew up.

While I find the relationship between boy and dog common, it's quite interesting how their bonding brought on great results with the autistic child. In my opinion, I think the child has an easier time reading the dog because they don't give facial expressions. Their body signals how the dog is feeling, and I think the dog can sense how the child is feeling by their body signals. The other thing I noticed was that the children were older then Wesley. I'd say 10 years or older. It might be something we look into as Wesley gets older. Of course money is a big factor.

3 comments:

Casdok said...

It is interesting and i think you make some good points there.

michele_k said...

My mom and I were talking about this yesterday morning. All the points you bring up sounds so much like our conversation. J wants a dog but we're only allowed to have two pets where we live (townhomes) and we already have two cats.

Lynn Stallworth said...

You know from reading my blog that we are fostering (and probably keeping forever) a golden retriever. While she's not a certified "therapy dog", what she's done for my boys in just this past week is incredible. We have our own dog who is a nervous, spazzy dog. The boys don't care to go near her. Blake has always been flinchy around her. The Golden lays on the floor and doesn't move when the boys approach. They've touched her nose, her tummy, etc. We use the dog to learn body parts-lol! They are bonding with this dog without words and it's been beautiful!

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