<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"A friend of mine posted this wonderful link on her Facebook page today, regarding service dogs and their uses for things beyond physical disabilities. She herself has a service dog for some PTSD issues and the dog has been a godsend for her. I have long tossed around the idea of getting a service dog for David, and we even have a place not far from us that trains dogs specifically to assist children with autism. David loves dogs, but in a very frantic way, if that makes sense. He&amp;#039;s fascinated by them and wants to be near them, but he&amp;#039;s terrified of them snuffling him or getting too exuberant with him, which, of course, they do because he&amp;#039;s so excited around them. He seems to do better with smaller dogs than larger, for that reason, and he has asked for a dog in the past. Do any of you have experience with service dogs? My biggest barrier to this is the fact that the dog will be home alone so much of the day due to their school schedule and my work schedule. I just think it&amp;#039;s kind of cruel to have a dog cooped up inside for that long (it would be around seven hours a day and a dog door won&amp;#039;t do - we have indoor cats and no fence on our back yard). I do think a dog would be good for him, though. Do they train service dogs to be okay with being home alone a lot? I&amp;#039;m not really sure he needs a dog at school - it would probably be too much of a distraction, but a dog at home would be wonderful. Can any of you share your experiences with service dogs? [Follow Ellie on Facebook and Twitter] "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.womansday.com/relationships/dating-marriage/a48579/question-for-autism-parents/>