Has anyone ever trained a dog or had a dog for a special needs child?

It really depends on what you need the dog to do (i.e., what types of disabilities). Dogs have been trained to warn people with seizure disorders that they are going to have a seizure and to move to a safe place. Dogs can pick things up and bring things to people with mobility disorders, etc. Some dogs have been trained to stick like glue to autistic kids so they don’t wander. Not to mentioned guide dogs for the blind. It really depends on the specific tasks the dog will be asked to do.

During my wifes first marriage, she had a hearing dog for a short time.
It would alert her to the phone ringing, a knock on the door, or sounds in the kitchen.
Her husband made her get rid of it, which has always amazed me.

Whether you’re looking for a guide dog for a child with a particular disability – or if you’d like to raise one for someone else to use – then you might want to talk with Fidelco, who has been doing this for many years.

Thank you @CWOTUS my daughter has had seizures in the past and is on the autism spectrum so I would like a dog for her. I will do as you suggested.

I had a coworker who raised helper dogs. She would work with each one for 3 years or so. The training was really intensive and more than half of the dogs in the program failed and would become simply very well trained house pets or dogs that would visit nursing homes and such.

I think it would be easier to find an already trained dog than raise your own. Then you could have fundraisers to get donations to pay for the dog.

We got in touch with a breeder who raised service dogs and then we used her trainer to train the dog for my sister. We eventually had to adopt that dog out as he would lunge after other dogs and topple my sister over. The problem wasn’t really the dog it was the fact that my sister cannot remember well enough to reinforce the training.

I have actually found a trainer that is just down the street… I called about doing the regular dog training and then asked if they train for special needs and they do. The great part of it is they guarantee their training for the life of the dog and if there is any issues at all and the dog needs more training they will do more training without addional cost. But it will cost alot to do the training itself but it would be well worth it if it will help my daughter in the end. We pick up the puppy from our breeder next Saturday Oct 1 and we are all excited here to soon have him. He is such a cutey a red labradoodle. The breeder I went through has seen a few of her dogs get trained for special needs children that are on the Autism spectrum.

The way I look at it if he isn’t able to make it as a service dog then we will still get a great pet out of the deal as an addion to my family.

Thank you all for your posts and ideas!!