Getting a Service Dog

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Hello there, I haven't posted on the forums in a long time. I have been struggling with depression which has been very hard on me. Even through all of my struggles, God has blessed me with an amazing organization just two hours away from where I live that trains service dogs for people with various disabilities including autism. What was amazing about this organization was that it trained dogs for not just children with autism, but also adults which is great and shows that the organization truly understands autism and how it is not only children who suffer from it.

There was this lady in her twenties who is a professor at the university I plan on transferring to after I'm through with community college and she also has Asperger's and she said that her partnership with her golden retriever has changed her life.

As for me, I recently got paired up with a standard poodle named Klay. I never liked poodles that much, but Klay has completely changed my opinion on then. He is such a sweetheart and loves to lean up against me and his fur feels as soft as a lamb. He begins his training this week and he will help me with my anxiety attacks, socializing, and becoming more independant. After he completes his training, he will be my very own service dog which I am looking forward to.

Here is a picture:

Klay and Me

Are there any other people with service dogs here?

Don't know how to show you a picture, but I'm paired with Lexie, a little bitty (35-pound) black lab. We actually got surprised because we ran into her a the mall today with her puppy raiser! She's doing sooo well. She has sit and down totally under her belt. She's learning manners, such as not barking at the door or not jumping. She was a rescue and has only been in proper training less than a month. She turned a year just a few weeks ago.

It was funny because we were walking through the crazy-busy mall and I saw a young lady (20s, my age) with a little black lab and of all the black labs in the world, I knew it was Lexie. I asked if it was, and she said yeah, wow, how'd you know? I said because she'll be my dog! So we talked and I got to watch how she works with Lex and wow, she's awesome with her!

Klay is clearly a proud happy dog. Standard poodles are very smart dogs. When you have him please give him a sliver of butter for me.

One of my favorite individuals is a small Black Lab, Crosby; who loves butter. Another proud dog (45 lbs).

All the organzations for autism service dogs I have come across so far only focus on children. I guess we disapear once we turn 18. Anyway, why do service animals always have to be dogs? My service animal is a bearded dragon. Yes, she's offical and everything. I know it isn't fair to her to be toted around with me everywhere and I can't really stay indoors all the time in the winter forever, so I'm looking into getting a genet or coatimundi as my next service animal. Part of how Pippin helps me is people asking questions because it's not everyday you see someone with a lizard. My social skills improved tremendiously after i got Pippin. I'm definatly going to be asked questions with a coatimundi or genet. It'll probably be a coatimundi because genets are aparently skittish. A coatimundi could probably even be trained to assist me in certian tasks.

I am hoping to get a service or companion dog it depends on how bad you are to whether you are recommended or able to have a service dog. I am bad enough to get a dog more for the fact of my epilepsy. I find my friends dogs relax me and I spend more time taking notice of the dog instead of human beings and the conversations that are going on around me or more to the point whats going on around me that I forget that I am anxious or uncomfortable.

Aww, cute dog

I personally want to get a cat classified as an emotional support animal, I don't think I could qualify for needing a service dog (or at the very least, I'd want to let them go to people who'd need them more than me first), but having an animal that is just there for me at home would do me a ridiculous amount of good (growing up my cat prevented my meltdowns, now I don't have a cat and am in terrible shape with any pets)

Well, get yourself a cat then! I would suggest adopting an adult cat or an older kitten (5 months or older) so that you don't have to worry about the crazy kitten age; and as a bonus, many will come already spayed/neutered so you don't have to pay for that on top of the usual vet expenses you pay for getting a new pet. No need to worry about breeds; but I do recommend a shorthair since they don't require as much grooming. Go to a shelter to get a cat. No-kill shelters will keep cats long-term, so that the volunteers can often tell you something about the cat's personality. Petfinder.com is a good site to find shelters.

The only thing necessary to certify an ESA is that your psychologist, doctor, or counselor says you benefit from having one. Like with any pet, you would of course be responsible for the cat's good behavior and be required to pay for any damage.

The only reason I haven't is because I can't afford one - the vet expenses, food, litter, etc, is too much when I can't even pay for my own rent. My boyfriend and I have agreed that as soon as either of us gets income we'll be going to my favorite cat shelter and picking me out a cat . Until then, the only cat I could get is one of my parents' which is not a good cat for me - I can't handle taking care of a diabetic cat at the moment.

Don't have one yet, but I plan on getting a Shiloh Shepherd and training it to be a service dog.

Ah, I see what you mean. That is a very mature choice for you to make. When I couldn't have cats, I used to help out at animal shelters, which is great if you can stand the ten-cats-in-one-room smell and come home without taking half the cats with you.

Yeah, that is what I noticed too... Sometimes I feel like I am a lost generation since I was probably one of the first CHILDREN to be diagnosed with Asperger's as opposed to getting diagnosed as an adult or adolescent. This was likely due to me sort of developmentally plateauing around the time I was five years old.

There seems to be more of a stigma towards adults with disabilities than children with disabilities likely because they are somehow expected to be cured and improve when they reach a certain age.

I still think that the bearded dragon is kind of cool. I heard of a few laws recently passed in 2010 that limits service animal rights to only dogs and the occasional mini horse. I wish you good luck on educating people about Pippin. The lady who paired me up with Klay said that a standard poodle was better than a smaller dog because people will likely take him more seriously and it would provide me better protection. Plus, poodle coats are super soft and feel like lamb's wool which really helps me calm down.

Brushing Klay's fur is also really relaxing and helps remove mats from his coat. I know there is a million ways to groom a poodle, but I think I will just keep him in something that still keeps him soft and fuzzy. I hate those prissy show cuts.

Im an aspie and Im training a service dog for my brother whos 5. He has type 1 diabetes.

Pippin is basicaly a local celebrity here. They give me more trouble at the libarary than they do at McDonald's and the grocery store. I'm prepared to sue someone if they give me trouble about Pippin and will take them all the way to the Supreme Court if I have too.

Congratulations!

I think that everybody on the spectrum who wants a service dog should have one. I wish that Chico could be my service dog, but he wasn't trained that way and I'm not allowed to have pets in the complex that I live in. Could you imagine 400 dogs barking all at once? That's what it would be like if everybody in my neighbourhood of council flats was allowed to have a dog. If you bend the rules for one person, you have to bend the rules for everybody.

Does everyone in your apartment have a disability? I really doubt it.

I recommend looking into emotional support animals.

Not nearly as useful as a service dog, but useful for those of us who can't justify the effort it takes to get an actual service dog, because of being able to function well enough (even if a dog would help beyond that too)