Her name is Lucy and she's our son's autism service dog. She was trained by us, not obtained from any organization. What does she do? She helps Braden be more independent, among other things.

Most 9-year-olds have a certain amount of independence. In stores they can go down a different isle or look at different things like toys. Typical kids don't have to stick right by their parent's side. That's what Lucy does for our son. With her at his side, Braden can walk throughout a store and we don't have to worry about either of them. Lucy brings Braden independence.

Follow up:

Braden can talk, but he can't answer most questions and most people can't understand his speech anyhow. He can't tell you he has autism. But, with a 78 lb. Chocolate Lab at his side wearing a service vest, that tells you something. People's expectations change when they see him with Lucy.

Lucy is an autism service dog every bit as much as any dog obtained from any of several excellent organizations that train dogs specifically for service. But, those other dogs have been trained better. I know that. But, then again, our son doesn't need a dog that's so thoroughly trained. And, according to the American's with Disabilities Act, a service dog only needs to be trained to do a single task in order to qualify as a service dog. One task. One thing. Increasing independence is one thing. Carrying a visual schedule could be another.

When at home Lucy may seem like any other pet. She entertains our son sometimes while they play with a dog toy together. But she also tolerates his needs for pressure. He is always sitting or laying on Lucy. He loves to put his forehead right up against her's. Lucy takes it all in stride. If Braden bugs her too much she'll get up and walk away from him. But, Braden will usually tell her to 'come' and she'll return for more abuse. We definitely needed a dog that would tolerate our son's "physicalness" without biting or getting angry. Lucy is very tolerant.

When we acquired Lucy we were looking for a dog fit to become a service animal. I had researched the law and I knew we could train her ourselves. Since we didn't have $15,000 laying around we had no option but to train her ourselves. I had lots of animals growing up, so I knew I could handle basic obedience. We weren't going to have a dog that ran throughout the house peeing here and there, ripping up the rug and chewing our shoes. Not a chance I would let that happen!

Training the Dog

You should know that it's not always easy to train a dog to become your child's service animal. After all, if you have a child with autism, you don't have a lot of time to spend training a dog. It takes patience and perseverance. I felt that I could do it, so we jumped in.

I'm the disciplinarian in our family. My wife is not. She has the philosophy that if you love an animal you let it do whatever it wants to do. Since I disagree with her, we conflict over this. That is something to think about when training a dog yourself. Dog training requires consistency, and my wife is rarely consistent with the dog. I train the dog and then my wife takes her out and untrains her by doing something a different way. She does not maintain the consistency a dog needs when being trained. That has definitely been a challenge with training Lucy. Me and my wife need to be on the same page, but my wife is forever on a different page in a completely different book! As a result, Lucy is not as well trained as I'd like her to be.

What do I mean? Basic obedience. When Lucy walks alongside her handler I want her to be ultra attentive and I don't want her nose to be much past my thigh. In other words, I want her to heal well. My wife doesn't make Lucy heal when she walks her. So Lucy is a bit confused and doesn't know exactly how to heal. If you saw her walking with me in public you'd think she was healing nicely, but, by my standards she's too far ahead of my heals. That bugs me.

When in public, people expect a service animal to act like a service animal. That means no pooping or peeing in stores. That means the dog should obey its handler. That means no barking unless it's part of a trained task. Lucy has got those things down like a pro. My wife hasn't untrained her in those areas.

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