Autism Service Dogs for Children Part 3

From Service Dog Training

This is the third part of a series on the risks of autism service dogs for young children. Links to other parts of the series:

Introduction: The Lassie Phenomenon

Part 1: Tethering

Part 2: Search and Rescue and Preventing Escape

Facilitating Social Interaction

Anyone who has used a service dog for more than a few weeks can tell you that a service dog increases the amount of attention they get in public places. It is safe to say that giving a child a service dog will increase the public attention they receive. However, this is not an inherently positive effect of having a service dog. The vast majority of the interactions a service dog user has with the general public range from superficial to offensive.

Service dog use makes disabilities that would normally not be noticed by the general public highly visible. One consequence of this is that people are more likely to approach the person that appears the most "normal" to ask questions and make comments. This will usually be the parent or handler of the dog, not the child. Even when directed to speak to the person with the disability, many people will not and continue to speak to the parent. This is dehumanizing to the service dog user and does nothing to encourage the development of social skills. When someone does speak to the person using the dog, the dog user is often addressed as a small child regardless of age. The conversations follow an unwavering script. "What's your dog's name?" "What breed is he?" "Boy or girl?" "Why do you have a dog?" "What's wrong with you?"

On the other end of the spectrum from the superficial conversations are the hostile ones. Dog teams find themselves approached with comments like "I don't want that dog around me." or screams of "You can't have that dog in here!" To a new dog user, and especially to a child, these situations can range from embarrassing to deeply disturbing. Situations like these can actually cost a child a potential friend. Even adults may be uncomfortable with confrontational situations like these, so a child or teen using a dog and out with a new friend may find the friend no longer wishes to be around them due to the embarrassment and public hostility that can come with service dog use.

The other type of person that will approach the service dog team are the touchy-feely types. These people will march right into the dog user's personal space and grab the dog, person or both. It is not uncommon to be approached by people like this in crowds. If a child with autism is uncomfortable having strangers in his or her personal space, or does not like to be touched without warning, these encounters with the public can be extremely stressful. These people will also unthinkingly block an overwhelmed person who is trying to get out of a situation, just so they can have a chance to pet the dog. They may not speak to the child or the handler, but they will often speak directly to the dog. This does not improve the social skills of the child but can instead make the child more stressed about being approached in public in the fear that they or their dog will be grabbed or touched without warning, or that they will be hindered from leaving a stressful situation.

Inconsistent Handling

A lack of consistency in handling the dog can be a problem when three person, "tripod," or "facilitated," teams are used. The idea behind such a team is that the parent or guardian will direct the dog to do things on behalf of the child, such as restraining the child from running into the street. However, the child is usually encouraged to give commands to the dog as part of their daily routine. The child is often the person directed or encouraged to practice basic obedience with the dog, as well as being the one to feed and groom the dog. This means the dog does not have a consistent person to look to for direction. The dog is expected to sometimes listen to and obey the child, but other times to obey the directions of the parent and ignore the directions and commands of the child. Not only can this frustrate the dog and cause any or all of the problems related to high levels of stress in a dog (disobedience, nervous or obsessive behaviors, or aggression) it can cause the dog to fail at a task at a critical moment. If the child chooses to bolt in a dangerous situation, and the parent says stay but the child says heel, the dog has at least a reasonable chance of taking the path of least resistance and going with the child as he is being both verbally commanded and physically pulled in that direction. A dog is not able to distinguish between situations where the child should be obeyed and those in which the child’s commands should be ignored in favor of the commands given by someone else.

--Tiffany Huggard-Lee 08:28, 10 October 2009 (CDT)