In June this year I enrolled my dog Coco in an owner trained service dog program with Pawsable. Pawsable are a company here in the UK who support owners to train their dogs to be service dogs. At the time I made this video about how dogs can support people with autism. Now it’s time for a service dog update.
Coco has done really well with her training during her time as a service dog in training. Although it has been a lot of work for me it has also been really fun. So I am thrilled to announce that she has now taken her public access test to be considered a fully trained service dog. To find out if she passed you will have to watch the video 😉.
I hope you enjoy my service dog update.
I just watched your video about owner training your dog Coco as a service dog. You did an awesome job explaining how you went through the process. I enjoyed the video and learned a lot. Thanks!
Hi, Ella.
I found your site rather by accident while looking for something on how to handle grief and loss as an autistic person. I watched your video on bereavement that found you have a service dog. I am autistic and have had Howie for about 5 years. Howie is a yellow lab and is my service dog. I purchased him from a trainer who trains both service dogs and therapy dogs. This is, of course, an extremely expensive way to go. I tried the route you took with your dog but the stress was more than I was able to handle. For me this worked out wonderfully. Howie was specifically trained for me for tasks that I needed to help me deal with specific aspects of autism. He is with me 24/7. He goes absolutely everywhere with me. I cannot imagine being without him, though since his lifespan is shorter than mine, it is something I think about and will one day have to deal with. Thanks for posting about service dogs for autistic people.