#autism service dog

[pixierainbows]

Sunshine , sleeping in Pixies lap

[eeveeas123]

Some people might ask me if my autism service dog (Eevee) has alerted to other people either at home or in public. The answer is yes, though she’s focused on me, there’s the odd time where a kid starts crying or someone else is showing more obvious anxiety signs. I do tell her to “leave it” in public (And like a proper service dog, she does!) but at home, she tries the same strategies she uses on my anxiety, on the person (Licking, snuggling, etc.). Eevee is really sweet! Actually some time ago, she turned her head to a child who started crying, then she looked at me as if she was trying to ask me “What do I do? Do you want me to help them?” She stayed in place and left the kid because I told her to

Dogs are outstanding for the many roles they take on and we should always love them for that!🐾❤️

[jellycatstuffies]

Autism Service Dog For Victor

This has nothing to do with Jellycats so feel free to not read: Now that I am starting university next week and never reached my goal to start the process of getting my own autism service dog I want to bring this back.

Some of you may remember my campaign to eventually be able to pay for my future service dog. I had planned to have the dog at least in training by the time I started university again, but as no charities or other support groups replied to my requests for help and I was and still am in financial trouble because of my parents not supporting me, I am forced to start school without a service dog. (this is complicated by the fact that one of my fellow students who I will have to see a lot actually has a service dog (albeit not an autism service dog) which is bittersweet and, quite honestly, heartbreaking for me)

Below is the link to my Go-Fund-Me campaign. All the money I receive through my Ko-fi will also go towards this goal.

Please consider donating or sharing on here and anywhere else you might think useful!

Thank you so much.

- Victor

PS: Due to starting university next week I may be less active on here but the queue will run as always!

[8irdies]

long time without news for you! i got a puppy that i am training to be my service dog for autism and mobility. i love her but puppies are also A Lot, so i’m stressed and exhausted.

anyways her name is lavender! she’s half certified labradoodle and half lab+german shepherd+a whole ton of things. we did temperament testing on her and the others that were available and she’s the best pup for the job!

[asdpawprint]

Service Dog at College: My Experience

It's been over a year now since I graduated, and I finally feel far enough removed to look back on the experience without instantly triggering a panic attack, so here's how my experience of going to college with my service dog went!

Max attended classes with me for 3 semesters in total. He was still "in training" for about half of his 1st semester, then considered "fully trained" the rest of the time. He did not live in the dorms with me because I didn't live in the dorms.

In preparation for taking him to class for the first time, we did a lot of training outings on campus over the summer. We primarily practiced 2 hour settles and leading me to exits. I also contacted my college's disability services to notify them that I would have my service dog with me. Luckily, they seemed to already understand the laws around service dogs, so it wasn't an issue.

Actually going to class usually went well. My professors and even fellow students were respectful. I only got asked to pet him a handful of times. He was only stepped on once by accident, even though it was sometimes hard to find a seat in class where he could lay out of the way. I preferred the computer lab classrooms because I could sit anywhere and always have enough room under the desk.

I had 1 class in a room where he had to lay in the way, and the only place he could fit at all was far from both exits. And the professor frequently went on tangents about triggering topics. So I was often stuck there during flashbacks or dissociative episodes. That sucked.

Sometimes professors would forget to give us the 15 minute break halfway through a 3 hour class. Technically, I could leave anyway, but I'd miss instruction. So Max got used to doing almost 3 hour settles. He'd get restless in the last 20 minutes or so, but never disruptive.

All the classrooms I was in had carpet, so I didn't bother bringing a mat for Max to lay on. If the floors had been hard, I would've brought one for his comfort. I offered him water and a potty break outside before and after every class, and during 15 minute breaks if we had them. I gave him treats throughout his work time, but we were never out long enough to feed a meal away from home.

The worst experience we had was graduation.

Before the ceremony was fine: security didn't seem to know what to do with us, so they just let us in without going through the metal detector. Someone from disability services guided me through the tables and forms I had to fill out. They let me sit off to the side for the beginning of the ceremony instead of walking through the miserable crowd of overstimulation (a line of previous graduates on either side) with my peers, and let me have a chair on the outside edge for the ceremony itself.

Then things started going wrong:

I didn't know ahead of time that the floor would be concrete, so I didn't have a mat for Max. He was very uncomfortable and shifted around a lot.

I couldn't wear a treat pouch or access my pockets under the gown, so Max had to work in an extremely overwhelming situation for hours with almost no rewards.

The people with cameras seemed to actively avoid me. I noticed several times that they'd do an overview of the crowd, then stop immediately before my row, then start again immediately past us. That was weird.

The guy telling each row when to start going towards the stage stepped on Max after staring at him multiple times. Then rushed us towards the stage before I could get any treats out of Max's vest pockets. That was very upsetting.

The stairs up to the stage were metal and creaky and had lots of gaps, but luckily Max is well socialized to weird stairs and walked up just fine.

The worst part of all was the end of the ceremony. They invited the whole entire audience to crowd into the arena we were sitting in to "collect their graduate." Luckily, Max perceived it as "So many new friends! How will I ever say hi to them all!" But I was completely out of it. By some miracle, my Dad was among the first into the arena and was able to lead me out. It took over a week for me to recover. I ended up sending an email to disability services suggesting that they should provide options to exit early because that situation easily could've been dangerous.

To summarize, my overall experience with bringing my service dog to college went well (everything else about college was horrible, but they did well with the service dog specifically), but graduation was a disaster.

[workingflooff]

He is so pretty 🤩

[autistic-zukoao3]

Here are the tasks I have in mind for Olly to learn. Only pay attention to the ones I highlighted. I found this list of tasks, and highlighted what would benefit us.

Again, here is our GoFundMe to help with the cost of training Olly.

$390/20k

[the-firefly-system1]

Sent a text to mom asking if we could get a teddy Roosevelt terrier puppy cause I found a breeder of them near us that health and temperament test their dogs

This is what they look like(not my image). I will train the puppy to hopefully be our service dog we have a golden retriever that was supposed to be our service dog but he is poorly breed and ended up not being the right kind of dog fit to be a service dog

These are the tasks the teddy Roosevelt terrier will do there is probably some more but can't remember right now

1.Pressure therapy

2.Nudging at and leaning into chest when dissociated or catatonic licking face if that doesn't work barking (if at home for barking)

3. Picking up small items I drop

4. migraine alert

5. Circling and blocking (not sure if this will work with a small dog)

6. Nudging pawing or jumping and then pressure therapy when harmful stimming or meltdown or other episodes 7. Helping determine if things are hallucinations

8. Distracting from hallucinations

9. tactile stimulation

10. Getting caregivers if we are unable to move

11 keeping us calm in public with stuff like deep pressure, tactile stimulation

Hopefully mom says yes. I'll update if she says yes or no.

[black-cat-named-onyx]

a little off topic update! i'm in the works of getting a service dog! i live in the dorms at my college and i am trying to get approved for an emotional support animal that i will train as a service dog! right now i am messaging local shelters about placing any rottweilers on hold for me. my goal is to adopt but i do need this breed of dog for my support needs so i want to check every shelter i can before i contact a breeder.

i have mobility issues due to my fibromyalgia , autism, ADHD, depression, anxiety, OCD, auditory and visual hallucinations and PTSD so having a dog that i can train for physical and mental help will make my life so much easier. my mom is fully on board with this and is helping me figure out paperwork and talking to my physiatrist about approval for the dog to be registered as an emotional support animal with my school while i train them. i have to do it this way because no pets are allowed on campus, the only thing you can have is one fish in a one gallon tank. so i need to have a doctors note just to have them in my dorm.

wish me luck!!

[monachopsis-11]

Does anyone have any advice on how to make friends with someone? I met someone really cool at an LGBTQ+ event and ended up talking to him afterward which I never do. But long story short he does Service Dog training and is new enough to it that I can afford it so we met up again for an initial training session.

I just really like him, he’s super cool and I haven’t genuinely liked someone in a way I wanted to pursue in years. I just have no idea how to let him know I want to be friends and I’m worried it’s weird since I’m paying him for the dog training and generally I tend to come on a little strong because I just say what I’m thinking and nuance is lost on me.

Is it weird if I just invite him to go get coffee sometime? Or just flat out say I want to be friends/get to know him better? If he doesn’t think I’m cool will it be awkward and ruin the training or can we just move on?

I feel so awkward and out of my depth about the whole thing because I haven’t actually met someone I wanted to be friends with in years. And like he’s LGBTQ and disabled and has a service dog and besides the Internet I feel so alone in those things, especially because he’s my age. I think it would be incredible to have a friend like that and I think I would be a really good friend as well.

And he likes the aquarium which is my favorite place in the world!!! It totally feels meant to be and I think we’d get along really well. I’ve been wishing for a friend for such a long and I feel like it’s kind of meant to be but also that I’ll ruin it at the same time.

Should I give him a little pride dog paw print sticker or is that weird?

If anyone has any advice please send it, I’m way too traumatized and autistic for this.

[pixierainbows]

Sunshine on Access bus … almost full under Pixie seat !!

[eeveeas123]

I love all dogs (And it shows!). Just because I don’t immediately run towards a dog doesn’t mean I’m distant or even scared, I’m cautious. It’s a dangerous thing to do that with a dog you’re not familiar with. Lots of people think all dogs are friendly like the ones they know, but one wrong move and it could spell trouble for you and/or the dog! Some dogs are really friendly but even they have their bad days. It’s not hopeless to be friends with an initially aggressive, afraid or aloof dog, it just takes time and effort. I always ask the person who knows the dog best “Can I pet them? Will they be okay with that?” even if they say “No” I respect that! They’re keeping everyone as comfortable as possible (And, as a service dog handler, petting my dog isn’t allowed with her vest on).

When I was younger I really wanted either a Papillon breed or a Great Pyrenees breed dog (Big difference I know) but I found that having a Labrador Retriever breed really went well (We’ve only had Labs and they were all wonderful service dogs). I won’t judge anyone for having a certain breed of dog because maybe that’s what’s best for them! I seriously love all dogs and think they deserve to be happy!🐾

[oisin-sdit]

Vest designs I made and hopefully will get one day. If I get a Christmas one I'm using it even when it's not Christmas because I love Christmas. Noël will be for more then just our autism but I want my vests to say autism service dog so people know why I act like I do cause I stim a lot, I'm Nonverbal, meltdown in public but I'm worried might get access issues if I have autism service dog on my vests

[8irdies]

took heffalump to the eye doctor! and found out i’m nearsighted and have astigmatism and it’s a miracle i lasted this long without glasses. can’t wait to see my plushies in exquisite detail again!

[awetistic-things]

i want an autism service dog so bad but i’m so nervous of how a lot of my friends and family would react considering i’ve been masking around them my entire life

[workingflooff]

I had such a weird experience a few days ago at the mall.

I took public transit there and once we got there, I went to the spot where I normally take him to the bathroom. There was a Guide Dogs for the Blind van parked right next to where I normally take him to the bathroom. It looked like they were about to start unloading some dogs, but then they saw me and immediately packed up and hopped in the van and drove away, staring at me the entire time. All he was doing was looking for a spot to shit.  but whatever I can shrug that off they probably just don’t want any dogs near their dogs.

But then, when I actually got into the mall, Finn was doing some FMP and one of their guide dogs walked past me. Finn did fine, literally he did nothing wrong. We found a spot to sit down, and they were staring at me and whispering about me…grown ADI org guide dog trainers were judging a disabled 17-year-old’s legitimate owner trained service dog.

This made me feel like shit. I just wanted to absorb into the wall and not be seen.