What Do Dogs Give Autistic Children That Human Beings Don’t?

Autistic children tend to withdraw and struggle to communicate with people around them. They feel lonely, and dogs are indeed one way to help them. Autistic children often develop special relationships with their dogs, patting, hugging, and taking care of them with patience and devotion. What does a dog give an autistic child that human beings do not? When a dog gets used to a person, it is willing to accept them as a superior, both as owner and as a friend, without considering whether or not they are autistic. The dog is no friend at the level of empathizing with the child’s distress, but there is common feeling and sensitivity between the child and the dog. It is this sensitivity that human relations are greatly lacking in our present-day world. We can thus learn from dogs the importance of increasing our sensitivity to each other. Dogs feel a lot, demand a lot, and want to be loyal. The latter, however, is the main trait we can learn from dogs: loyalty—to our friends and to our owner,