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Special Needs, Special Kids
All the wonderful qualities that go towards making the Labradoodle the perfect family companion - their intuitiveness, intelligence, loving natures and gentleness - also contribute to making these incredible dogs top candidates for training as therapy, companion and assistance dogs for children (and adults!) with disabilities.
The world of assistance dogs (an umbrella term for dogs that provide services to individuals with disabilities) has long been dominated by Labrador and Golden Retrievers. The problem however, has always been that these breeds are known shedders, and many individuals with disabilities also suffer from allergies. Over the past few years, while institutional assistance dog trainers have continued to rely on Labs and Goldens, individuals have been branching out to train for themselves larger breeds, including Standard Poodles and Doberman Pinschers, to provide balance and support services. While the use of Poodles resolved the shedding issue, the breed's sometime longer maturation time and excitability weren't always conducive in training them to work with small children. Dobermans suffered likewise from an image issue, in that many parents of small children didn't view these as appropriate for their fragile children.
The Labradoodle is on its way to becoming the perfect solution. Combining the gentle nature of the Lab with the intelligence and non-shedding qualities of the Poodle, the Labradoodle adds to the mixture its intuitive and loving nature, resulting in a four-legged friend that is easily trained to provide a wide range of services for children suffering from disabilities. The availability of these wonderful dogs in a wide range of sizes, from miniatures to standards, gives service and therapy dog trainers the flexibility they need to provide smaller dogs for individuals living in apartments, and larger ones for individuals needing assistance with wheelchair pulling, or personal balance and support issues.
More recently, the use of Labradoodles in working with children with autism is gaining particular significance. Autism has become a raging epidemic around the world. Many of these children live in a world of their own, and normal family pets get frustrated with the lack of attention from the children, turning toward more emotionally demonstrative family members. In addition, many children with autism have damaged immune systems, and are allergic to most dogs. Work is being pioneered in Hawaii with incorporating Labradoodles in a special form of therapy that has proven remarkably successful with autistic children, Applied Behavioral Analysis or ABA . Other ABA therapists in the US are contacting their Hawaii counterparts, as word of this wonderful endeavor spreads.
The International Labradoodle Association is dedicated to supporting this research, and similar endeavors around the world. We are supplying a chat page, the Labradoodle Assistance Dog Discussion Forum, where individuals with disabilities, their caregivers and therapists can trade information on their Labradoodle companions. We are also hoping that this discussion forum will serve as a link where families with children with disabilities and breeders looking to donate puppies can connect. The Discussion Forum is also open to service and assistance dog trainers, to assist in their own research on how best to train these wonderful dogs to meet the varying needs of the children and adults who will be receiving these very specially trained Labradoodles.
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Australian Labradoodle Association of America, Inc.