More on autism service dogs
by Beth
If you read my What do autism assistance dogs do? post, you know I was a little skeptical about tasks dogs might be able to do for people with autism.
But now, I have seen the light!
A well-written newspaper article about Nichelle Drew and her five-year-old son Kaleb, who has autism, helped me understand: autism assistance dogs can be particularly helpful with children who are apt to run away.
So far, none of the locks the Drews have installed has managed to keep him in. Nor have the weighted blankets that are intended to have a calming
effect managed to keep him in bed, Nichelle said.And there are more potential dangers outside than strangers and traffic: the family lives by railroad tracks and a creek in Villa Grove, Nichelle said. To keep Kaleb safe, she said, she, her husband and a cousin take turns staying awake with him.
A service dog would be not only a companion for Kaleb but a watchdog who would try to stop Kaleb from running away, then alert the family if he did get out of the house and help find him through scent, she said.
Another mom, Casey, commented to my blog outlining her plans to train an autism assistance dog that would help keep her 7-year-old son from running away.
I plan to have 2 leashes on the backpack harness that our dog will wear, one for Josh so he can act as if he is walking his own dog and I will have the other to be in control. There will be a smaller belt that will clip onto a safety belt that Josh will wear on his waist. If he is to run, I can control that darting by telling the dog to curb and stay. This is the ONE task we hope our dog will do to help us keep Josh safe out in public. /blockquote>
While Casey plans to train the dog for Josh on her own, the Drews are investing $13,500 to get a dog for Kaleb from Autism Service Dogs of America.
The cost is so high because the expense of training the dogs is so high, Taylor said. Most of the dogs are golden retrievers, Labrador retrievers and Golden/Lab mixes, and it takes two years to get them trained … She has placed about 20 dogs so far, but is gradually building up the number each year in hope of placing about 30 per year.
Taylor, by the way, doesn’t earn her living through service dogs. A former special-education teacher-turned-attorney, she covers her own living expenses with a private law practice, she said.
Her organization has had a couple of applications from adults with autism, she said, but she is focusing for now on placing dogs with children with autism who run away.
Okay, so I’m convinced. Autism assistance dogs could help prevent kids from running away. But I still question the training methods. If it really takes two years and $13,500 to train an autism assistance dog, how on earth will Casey have the know-how to do that specialized training on her own? Or might Casey have it right? Is two years of training and a $13,500 fee more than necessary to train a dog to keep a child with autism from running away? Either Casey is taking on too much, or the Drews are paying too much.
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November 30th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
I am a dog trainer. I’ve spent 10+ years of my life and thousands of dollars learning to train dogs and studying dog behavior. I consider myself a very good dog trainer and I can train circles around the average dog owner.
I can answer your question at the end of your blog “If it really takes two years and $13,500 to train an autism assistance dog, how on earth will Casey have the know-how to do that specialized training on her own? Or might Casey have it right? Is two years of training and a $13,500 fee more than necessary to train a dog to keep a child with autism from running away?” The answers is NO the time is cost is NOT “more than necessary to keep a child with autism from running away.” I dog has to have many other skills to be a service dog.
There are many, many distractions out in the world that distract a dog from doing his job and a good trainer will expose the dog to all of those distractions and know how to proof the dog to be reliable. I would not even put a dog in an obedience show ring without less than 2 years of training, much less put a dog out there as a service dog.
I believe there are very few inexperienced dog trainers that can train a dog for service work. It takes years of study and practice to become a dog trainer and a good service dog organization will hire reputable trainers. The cost of training, combined with the cost of purchasing puppies, medical bills, spays & neuters, a training facility, food, a daily care of the dogs adds up quickly.
Here’s a breakdown of what it cost the average dog owner to own a pure bred dog for the first year and this does not include any specialized training.
$1200 purchase price of dog
$ 540 high quality dog food
$ 200 vet bills
$ 250 spay/neuter
$ 125 crate
$ 75 bed
$ 240 trainig treats
$ 90 chew bones
$ 30 bowls
$ 20 collar
$ 20 leash
$ 20 harness
$ 100 flea control
$ 50 heart worm medicine
$ 300 grooming
Total $3,165
I charge $420 a week for an intensive “board and train” at my home. So you can see where the dollars can really add up for a service dog organization.