This group is for people who have autism service dogs and their families and those who are interested in Autism Service dogs. Discuss tasks, organizations, care, training, success stories and education.

********************AUTISM SERVICES DOGS MUST BE TRAINED TASKS TO HELP MITIGATE THE DISABILITY OTHERWISE IT IS NOT A SERVICE DOG BUT AN EMOTIONAL SUPPORT ANIMAL********************************************

Autism service dogs are dogs that are specially trained to help individuals living on the autism spectrum. Individuals may be severely to mildly impaired by autism but no matter where they fall on the spectrum these dogs are trained to help them and provide them with better quality of life.

Autism service dogs are a lot like a cross between a seeing eye and hearing dogs. they have tasks similar to them

Autism service dogs have been proven to have many benefits for those living with autism. They been shown and proven to help calm the individual that they are paired with and decrease the amount of meltdowns. When an individual has a meltdown the dog will help them through it. They also help provide a sense of security as well as increased safety Increase in safety allows the individual to have more independence.
In many cases individuals have become more social after receiving and working with their dogs, it is also still unknown as to why and how these dogs help improve and individuals ability to concentrate but this has been shown to be a benefit as well.


Some Autism Service dog tasks

Symptom/ challenge Task trained

Impulsive running: Dog retrieves individual

PICA: Interrupts behavior

Self harming behavior: Will interrupt behavior

Night Awakenings: Alert parents by barking or climb into bed with indavidual

Non-verbal: offer behavior when person tries to command

Social Isolation: Focus shifts to dog.

Fire alarms: Dog alerts the individual and gets them out

meltdowns: Dog climbs in lap to calm individual

Streets: Dog will stop individual from walking right out

Sneaking out: Alerts parents by barking

Nightmares: Dog will crawl into bed to calm individual

Wandering/getting lost: Track and find individual/ offer protection

dropped item/ forgetfulness: refuses to move till the item is picked up or will retrieve the item

Separated from caregiver /friend or family in stores or crowds: seeks out family/friend or care giver.

Over whelmed or over stimulate: dog will lead individual to exit or a quiet area

Other tasks may also be trained as well especial if there are multiple conditions. i.e. Seizure alert.


Autism service dogs are a medical expense