This is a personal experience that made a huge realization in my dog's life, Back in the 70's when I was starting to create my breeding and training program I was contacted by a person in despair, she was a Mother of two children with Autism. While I was in some training sessions with the German Shepherd Club of PR which at that time I was the President, I received this phone call from this desperate Mother who was looking for help with her two kids, both were 6 and 7 years of age and both had "Autism" and she had made some type of research where she found out that Special type of Dogs with certain behavior could be of great support with children with this condition. As she went on to explain by phone about her kid's conditions, which one of the main issues that really worried her was that they would not talk and there was no way of communication between her and the kids, as you may imagine, at these times I was not too aware of the Autism condition nor was I was even less aware that Dogs could significate a big difference in these child's life's, I was totally ignorant of what she was telling me. She was asking me to buy a dog from me who I would feel was laid back, easy to handle, good in the house, and have some obedience training, these were the characteristics she was requesting. I really was quite surprised about this request, I didn't want to take her in the wrong direction and just not to make a sale just for the money, I was very concerned about what she was asking from me and this created a huge interest and curiosity,, I needed to learn more about Autism and about How dogs can help in with this situation before I would recommend any of my dogs.
To make the long story shorter (if it can be done *) I did my assignment I checked about Autism and did research on the use of Dogs as support.
As we kept in communication in the following weeks I took a decision and told her I may have the dog that could be a great possibility for her situation, It Was Bruno, he was a oversize German Shepherd I had imported for a client, but the reality is that he was too laid back for what this client was expecting, so I figured Bruno would be excellent prospect to try out, so we talked and I told her the story on Bruno, as we talked I told her that really I didn't feel comfortable selling her a dog for a situation which I was not an expert and highly knowledgeable at that moment and that I would prefer that she took Bruno for three weeks to try out and see how it would work out and not have her spend money on a dog that maybe was not the right fit for them. So we agreed to this,. I took Bruno and met the two children, the dog immediately took into them, placing his large head over their lap, stayed there with them a couple of hours, and left, I told her to keep me updated on everything and to please understand I was not a knowledgeable person on this situation.
Bruno was housebroken, had great obedience, and was a pleasure to have as a House Pet.
Two weeks went by and I receive a call from the Mother of the kids, she was crying heavily and full of an emotion I couldn't figure out, I thought maybe Bruno had hurt one of the kids and I got very worried, but she calmed down and told me "They can talk, they can Speak, I heard them talk to the dog" and she was soo happy and full of joy she couldn't hold the crying for joy, I was highly surprised and really I also got very emotional, for I could feel in her voice the greatest emotion of a mother (i was not yet a mother) but I could relate to this great rejoice. then she calmed down and explained to me that she was going to wake them up in the room when she heard voices, and she tip toed into the door of their room where they slept together and with Bruno, and both were embracing Bruno and talking to him asking him what did he wanted for breakfast !!!
This was a miracle, she said!! I'm overwhelmed with emotions, we definitely want Bruno! Well .. as things turn out, I never charged her for Bruno, this great experience and emotions were way out of what I could ever gain from a dog sale. Money meant nothing to me compared to what it had been achieved for these kids and their parents!! the most interesting part of this is that
Mother learned she could talk to Bruno asking things to the kids and the kids would answer to Bruno what the mother was asking!!!! So she found a way to communicate with her kids through Bruno. For many years Bruno was the way for them to communicate until they started to talk to her directly. Bruno lived until 12 yrs of age , I cannot imagine the pain of loosing him, but they live for ever grateful to that big ball of fur that brought her kids closer to her, dogs can make it happen and sometimes we have no explanation for these experiences, Dogs carry Magic Spells and each one is different, the connection the engagement is important, this is the only true comunication way.
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