Autism Assistance Dog Training
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Anonymous
| My DD was just diagnosed with HFA. She is 7 and crazy about dogs. We have wanted a dog for a long time and plan to get one in the fall. We would like to train the dog to help her with reading (she also has a reading disability), by sitting quietly by her side for 20 minutes a day while she reads to the dog. We'd also like to train the dog to "nudge" her when she starts to amp up emotionally or engage in her repetitive behavior (which is asking the same question over, and over, and over again or getting stuck on a topic). I know that she does not need a service dog, and I don't plan to have the dog accompany her to school or anything like that. But does anyone have any ideas about where to get help with this kind of training? We are planning to take the dog to puppy and obedience training but wonder if there is someplace out there with specific experience with this. |
Anonymous
| You can certainly train the dog to sit quietly by her side. I don't know how a dog would recognize that she is repeating a conversational topic. Service/companion animals react to cues and commands. Those cues can be very subtle but they have to be cues. Unless your daughter has one phrase she always repeats then the dog cannot be cued. He cannot simply understand that she is not getting into a good conversational flow. |
Anonymous
Anonymous
|
Professional dog trainer here. The PP is correct. Dogs respond to cues.
Remaining still for reading is simple enough. I would teach a mat behavior ("go to your mat") and train the dog to lay there until released. You can give it a cutesy signal like "It's time to read!" so that your daughter sees it as more fun. You will need to start slow (lay down for 2 seconds, 5 seconds, 10 seconds, etc) with rapid reinforcement, and build up to longer duration. You may also find that if you get an older dog, you can seek out a cuddly one who just enjoys your daughter's presence and wants to be near her. My own dog is that way. She constantly wants to be touching you, and would lay for hours if you were petting her while reading a book. The repetitive phrases is much trickier. Are you in the room with your daughter when she "amps up"? If so, it would be easy enough for you to tell the dog "settle" or "calm" or whatever you want the word to be as a cue. If you aren't in the room, is there an action she does? Does she wave her hands, stomp her feet, stare at the ceiling...anything that the dog could respond to? Are you in the DC area, OP? I have a lot of trainer contacts (especially in virginia) who could help you out. |