Tortuga wrote:
My son is also helping train the puppy and he really enjoys that role b/c he's a big fan of Cesar Milan and Victoria Stilwell from Animal Planet.
Cesar Milan methods are controversial and widely criticised for being unnecessarily cruel. So I would make sure a kid doesn't imitate what he has seen Cesar Millan do if he is a fan of the guy, especially if he tends to be literal and perhaps not so emotionally intuitive.
While anecdotically both service dogs and ordinary dogs can be incredible valuable to some autistic kids, (unintentional) abuse and wrong handling mustn't happen, so that means the parents of the kid either needs to be experienced with dogs and know how to train them, understand their psychological needs et.c. - or get professional help to training (AKA service dog training).
It sounds like a bad idea for anyone who does not have dog training experience or genuine interest in a dog to pick up a potentially traumatised puppy from the pound, give it to their autistic kid, and hope it will turn out just like in the success stories. It can, but without proper guidance it may turn bad, ruin the puppy's mental health and expose it to unacceptable handling.
24 Jan 2013, 10:39 pm
