I'd like an assistant dog for my autism/adhd

matt360

I have a lovely dog, and I'd like to owner train my dog to help me with my autism and adhd. My initial google search hasn't found anything. I'm 41 and live in the east midlands. So I am reaching out to the local community.

Sandy_123

Hi @matt360 welcome to scopes forum I have a couple of links you may find useful 

https://www.autismdogs.co.uk/

https://www.autism.org.uk/directory/a/autism-dogs-cic#:~:text=Main information&text=We provide Assistance Dogs for,their parents and/or carers.

matt360

Thankyou, always a possibility, though i Have two dogs already and was hoping to train one as an assistant dog, were as the above, i believe they train a dog for you to have as an assistant dog. which may be the best option.

Sandy_123

It might be I'm not sure how they differ. I suppose they are trained for certain things 

JBS2022

My cousin has an assistance dog for autism, it helps keep him calm, because he can very distressed. He got it through a charity, I don't know which one though.

Adrian_Scope

Good afternoon @matt360,

This isn't within my area of expertise, but I wondered if you'd thought about contacting some local autism or ADHD support groups? They might have members who either have experience training support dogs or might be able to point you in the right direction of someone who can help.

You could also try some local animal shelters who might be able to provide you with some information on trainers who specialise in that area.

It's also worth contacting Support Dogs to see if they have any good suggestions.

Camellia

Purple Ella on YouTube did some extremely helpful videos the other year on training an autism assistance dog. Fingers crossed 🤞 you may be able to find it by googling. 

Camellia

Here are some links to purple Ella’s videos on assistance dogs for autism 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hnQ4iCO0fmA

https://youtu.be/YHwle1URneQ

https://youtube.com/watch?v=rz2F-e5hHhQ&feature=share

Hope this is of some help