I was thinking of raising service dogs for income or a grant since problem arise with dogs using social cues like NTs and not suitable to unpredictable autistics, like meltdowns. They could know autistics from birth.
But also want one for myself so reposting here to get more input or a thread for others to discuss it.
As for service dogs-- I have a friend whose son has seizures. She brought home a dog from the pound. In time, the dog alerted on his own that her son was about to have seizures. Since my daughter has seizures, this made me look into getting a breed I would like. I saw a web site for service dogs,training golden retrievers for autism. Then I bought a book about hearing ear dogs.
I was very surprised when the hearing ear book said that among the worst breeds for the hearing ear would be the seeing eye dogs of choice-- the golden retrievers and labradors. The book said that those two breeds are very well behaved so that they can go to crowded spaces without upsetting other people. However, the book said that they are too well behaved and won't insist on solving new problems on their own when something unusual comes up. The book liked spaniels best, in general.
I finally got a dog for her, a German shepard/Australian shepherd puppy. The puppy peed and pooped everywhere and did bad puppy things. She loved it. I think she felt good to see that someone else in our household screwed up more than she did. It's been good for her but she doesn't love the dog. The only canine she ever loved was an arctic wolf/German shepherd we had. He was huge, so soft and would never act instantly friendly like a dog. He'd wait politely to be invited to socialize. I think his temperament was a lot like hers.
The bond is critical and I don't know how to predict it. I bonded instantly with a Corgi / Golden cross. He wanted to take care of me and i tried to buy him as an unwanted stray, but think I offered too much and suddenly wanted to keep him. We could communicate and it was wonderful, but not too much a dog person and most scare me.
There was a Malamute across the street when I had two babies and was in College. I walked about a mile to school and dropped children at care along the way. He would walk us to child care and me to school (not a regular schedual). He would be waiting for me at school or care center and walk us home. There was no play or socializing. He just did his task and went home. I don't remember even petting him, but loved him. I don't know if he went home or waited everyday and always wondered what his owners thought about this or it they knew? Never met them.
I think this could be like your dog since I heard a recitation as a child about "Malamute, HalfDog HalfWolf. I think I need a calm working dog and still wondering how to find one to bond with. I don't care for my daughter's huskies at all, but the blind male sensed something and herds the hyper female away from me. I believe he is trying to help me. I want a house dog and have tiny house so thinking not too huge like wolves. I will check out Spaniels. Thanks
