California man trains families' pet dogs to work with their autistic children

From Easy Reader News in California:

Five years ago, Margaret Ortiz and her family were stressed out by a pair of barking Labradors that scared away visitors and often terrified her 12-year-old twins, a girl and a boy who were both autistic.

Ortiz was at her wit’s end and ready to have the dogs’ vocal cords surgically removed when a friend recommended Manhattan Beach resident and certified dog trainer, David Dickey (pictured), owner of K-9 Kindergarten. Unbeknownst to Ortiz, Dickey had specialized for several years in training dogs for therapeutic use with autistic children.

“When he came over and found out what our needs were, he started talking about activities with the dogs that could be used with children with autism,” Ortiz said. “It was really quite miraculous.”

Ortiz had heard of using pets to treat children with autism, which affects one in 110 children, according to the Centers for Disease Control. But she assumed she would have to spend thousands of dollars to buy a pre-trained pet, which Dickey said ranges from $16,000 to $24,000.

After learning that Dickey worked with pets already in the home and was relatively affordable, she gave his program a shot.

“When I train a dog, I teach it to sit, heel, stay, come — just basic commands,” Dickey said. “I then have the child give these sorts of commands to the dog and the dog responds. This lets the child know that he or she is being understood. From that, a bond forms.”

For two months, Dickey visited the Ortiz family two to three times a week for an hour at a time until the dogs settled down and the kids were able to manage them.

“There is some kind of magic between an animal and a child,” Ortiz said. “What helped was knowing the kids could work with the animals. Kids with disabilities often don’t feel like there’s a whole lot they can do, but within a couple sessions, I noticed them participate. It was empowering to see them feel good about themselves.”

Dickey’s training program is geared toward increasing communication, safety and a sense of responsibility in autistic children by training dogs to respond to them.

“He was so successful, not only did the dogs calm down and stop scaring the kids,” Ortiz said, “[but] he made it to where the kids actually loved having dogs around.”

Since 2002, Dickey has worked with roughly a hundred families with autistic children and pet dogs.

Growing up, he watched his stepfather work with big cats and rhinoceroses at the Los Angeles Zoo and for actress Tippi Hedren, who starred with lions in the film Roar and established a wild animal preserve.

From age 12 to 16, Dickey worked at Animal Medical Group and Bay Animal Hospital, both in Manhattan Beach. He has been training dogs since 1987. After frequently coming across clients with autistic children, he starting reading research that suggested trained pets could help autistic kids conquer certain behaviors, such as aggression and frustration.

“I was looking at the situation a bit differently,” Dickey said. “And I found some methods of training dogs that work well with children who have autism.”

Dickey first tried the approach eight years ago with a Palos Verdes family who hired him to train its dog. After meeting the family’s 10-year-old autistic son — who had great difficulty speaking to people – Dickey suggested incorporating methods for autism therapy into the dog training.

“This boy was very shy and in his shell,” recalled Dickey. “I really focused on him and he made me want to work with kids.”

Dickey trained the dog outside of the home for a couple weeks, then worked two in-home sessions with the family. After weeks of silence from the boy, even Dickey was shocked at the results.

“The boy went from very limited communication to unbelievable communication,” he said. “One day, he just walked right up to me and said, ‘Hey David. How are you doing? Are we going to train the dog today?’”

Dickey’s work is based on research that suggests autistic children have an easier time communicating with animals than with people. By training dogs to respond to kids, the program aims to improve autistic children’s socialization skills and confidence in their abilities.

“If a child gives a command, you now have communication going on and the dog responding to the child,” Dickey said. “Before, you had a frustrated child.”

After a free initial consultation, Dickey typically trains dogs outside of the home for two weeks, and then spends four remaining sessions with the entire family, focusing on the relationship between the pet and the autistic child. While Dickey has successfully trained a cat, he prefers to work with canines.

“I look at the breed. I look at the family. I look where on the spectrum the child falls,” Dickey said. “I see what I can get from the dog and how much of a result can be gained. Even a limited connection helps.”

The program is also geared toward increased safety.

Like many parents of autistic kids, Ortiz had her share of panic-stricken moments when her children would suddenly wander off.

“Some children with autism will run away without saying a word,” Dickey said.

With Dickey’s method of “tethering” – where one end of a leash is connected to the dog and the other to a belt around the child’s waist – Ortiz’ dogs were trained to lead the kids straight to her when problems arose.

“By tying the dog to the child, the dog will either run with the kid, or I can train the dog to just lie flat, like a big sack of potatoes, so that the kid won’t go anywhere,” Dickey said.

Regardless of the breed of dog or where a child falls within the autistic spectrum, Dickey believes that every family facing challenges similar to those of the Ortizes can benefit from the program. The program is tailored to the specific needs of each child and capabilities of each dog. For example, small dogs don’t make good candidates for tethering.

In one case, an autistic child became upset when either the dog or the child was commended or told “good job.” Dickey substituted the sound of a clicker for verbal praise. The dog responded appropriately and the child no longer became upset.

“In my business, you have to be willing to mix methods to get the result that you want,” Dickey said. “You kind of have to be an artist with it, and you can’t be afraid to try something. I’ve done that for so many years that I kind of know what works in certain situations.”

For the Ortizes, the training proved to be so successful, the family started boarding dogs, with the twins happily helping out.

“David has a warm personality and was able to engage them in activities,” Ortiz said. “The secret to his success is that he engages all the family members and it really becomes a lot of fun.”