Autism Service dogs

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Both, I suppose...how could a cat be trained to walk on a leash, and to be helpful to someone as an autism service cat, in public? I've seen cats on a leash before, so I was wondering if they could be trained to help out in public or no, and what it might take to do that.

Unless this post ^ is tongue-in-cheek, you're breaking the law claiming a lizard is a service animal, someone tried to pull that crap with a pet iguana at my local walmart..

There are heafty fines for doing such in my state, something I appreciate as false SDs (among other animals aside from dogs) makes it more difficult for the legitimate SD teams.

ADA (US federal law) states that a service animal has to be trained to aid in the disabled persons ability to perform one or more major life activities (a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities of such individual; major life activities include, but are not limited to, caring for oneself, performing manual tasks, seeing, hearing, eating, sleeping, walking, standing, lifting, bending, speaking, breathing, learning, reading, concentrating, thinking, communicating, and working].).

Simply preventing panic attacks makes it an emotional support animal (based on the results of passed court cases) not an SD, ESA's do not have the public access rights that SD's do. Unless you have Subways permission to bring your pet into their store it isn't granted access by any US SD laws.

Also a therapists (nor doctors) note does not make an SD. The validity of an SD is what you can prove to a judge by means of what said service animal mitigates the persons disablitites in the court of law.

Fakers are a huge pet peeve of mine.



ASdogGeek, your dog is beautiful. My first two SD's were GSD's too. Have you ever been to Servicdogcentral.org? Highly recommended. It's nice to see fellow autistics using SD's for what they are best trained for, allowing adults with autism to lead more independant and fulfilling lives - rather then children tethered to furry babysitters which is what you most read about. I'm against tethering and using dogs to pick up slack for lazy parents.

Wow. I'm in a blunt mood tonight.

She prevents my panic attacks and is therefore doing a service. I am not giving her up because of people's ignorance. I'm not faking it, I need her in order to cope. I've never had a panic attack with her and if I have one around the house, all I have to do is get her out and hold her and they go away. I will go to court if I have too. Why do people want to deny what helps me? If I had ashma, I bet you would want to take away my inhaler. Do you pull wheelchairs out from people who can't walk too?

lol No I haven't checked that out yet but I defiantly will! Thank you she means the world to me as people tend to say. What tasks are your dogs trained? GSDs are my favorite breed. do you mind if I ask you where you got yours? I think autism service dogs can benefit children but they need to have tasks other then being a furry babysitter.. I have heard of the tripoding method where the dog is tethered to the child and the mother of father controls the dog. This I think is ok in HUGE crowds but not otherwise

No one's suggesting you give her up. What Wrackspurt is saying is that based on her understanding of the law, that letter from your therapist does not give you the right to take the animal into all public places. That doesn't mean those places can't choose to accomodate you. And it's not at all relevant to having the animal in your house with you.

Service parrot. I need a particularly sociable, talking service parrot. Preferably one that enjoys going to dinner parties and family events alone whilst I stay home.

bwahahahahahahahahahahahahah

lol that would be nice. eh well I like a little social interaction from time to time oddly enough I often like having 1 person around but I don't always intersect with them i just like their presence How ever I do love to have my boyfriend around as much as possible. he is the only person I actualy WANT to talk to and interact with on a regular basis. This is why I often lose friends when I make them. I all to often forget to call or keep up with them and the slip away. I get real annoyed when friend are ALWAYS trying to spend time with me. I like to see my friends maybe once a week unless I seek them out or made them part of my routine. Once when I was little I remeber crying because this kid asked me to go over his house again

The only one who gives me trouble about my service lizard is my mum. She think it is right to bring her into stores and stuff and when I tell her I will need a service dog she says we have enough dogs (4).

Last edited by PunkyKat on 20 Jul 2010, 10:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I have seen both of these videos they are very well done. I favoreted them about a week or two ago actually o it amused me that you posted them,

What do you mean my posting them "amused" you? Do you think it's funny that I have to fight for the right to bring my service animal places with me just becuase she is not a dog?

While I wouldn't put words in her mouth, I think she just found it amusing in the interesting sense, rather than in the "making fun of you" sense.

thank you that is exactly what I meant. I meant it is interesting you would link those specific videos as they are the very same ones I favrited a few weeks ago on youtube. I am glad I am not the only one who really likes them. I never believe it is funny when a person is denied thier service animal. God know I have a meltdown when people challenge mine. I have had to fight for my right to have Nimrodel. I don't know how I will even be able to function when she passes away! . Right now we are helping her fight against her own body.

Good to know. I'm so used to being harassaed and bullied (one of the reasons I need Pippin in the first place.) I tend to assume anything could be a threat. Lately, I'm finding my mum is the one that gives me the most trouble. She won't let me bring Pippin to the grocery store with us, claiming it isn't nice to bring a lizard to the grocery store. I think she is just in denial. Hopefully, they will let me bring her to college and vet school with me. Back when we lived in Ohio, I refused to leave the house without my parents if I could not bring one of the chihuahuas becuase people would be too distracted by a cute animal to harass me. A teenage boy with AS always got harassed but he did not have a dog or animal to distract people. His parents should look into getting him one. I've never had anyone say anthing bad about me when I've had Pippin but sometimes they make imature comments about her but they just make themselves look stupid and Pippin dosen't seem to mind. I'm having my shrink write a letter for me to be able to bring her in public as well. I just need to find a fabric to make her a vest and have "Service Animal" embroidered. I'd like to have "Autism Service Animal" put on it, but I'm so high functning most people don't think I am autistic and I can see a rude clerk go, "You don't look autistic!" But I really think advertising my autism like that would make me a target.

They can definitely be trained; they're as smart as dogs, they just don't have the "pack" motivation that makes dogs so easy to train. Cats are also small enough to carry or to ride on a wheelchair.

However, it's not necessary for a psychiatric service animal to have any training beyond good behavior; so a service cat need not necessarily be trained to do things like nudge you if you're getting stuck in a loop somewhere... They may just be helpful to you by their presence, to decrease anxiety and make communication easier.

Psychiatric service animals have all the privileges (and responsibilities) that regular service animals do. Emotional support animals merely have the advantage of being allowed into no-pets housing.

when it comes to leash training a cat i ound this I suggest a harness


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufHVl-xTXhQ[/youtube]