About our Autism Family Dog Workshops

Our workshops

Our workshops are specially designed to provide parents of autistic children with the advice and long-term support needed for choosing and training a dog to benefit the whole family.

Watch our video to find out more about our Autism Family Dog workshops and how they help.

The Family Dog Service’s Virtual Workshops are pre-recorded and accessed via an online platform called SharePoint.

There are three main Workshops (1, 2, and 3).

There is also an optional additional Workshop called ‘Selecting the Right Dog’, which can be accessed on SharePoint.

Each main pre-recorded Workshop is accompanied by a corresponding ‘Workshop Live’ event, held as a group video call on Microsoft Teams.

These ‘Workshop Lives’ are the group’s dates you book on to when booking your ticket.

How they work

After watching each pre-recorded Workshop on SharePoint, you will attend a corresponding ‘Workshop Live’ video call on Microsoft Teams with the other group attendees. These Workshop Lives are held on the group’s dates you book on to when booking your ticket.

• The ‘Intro Live’ lasts around 45 minutes, and is for you to meet the other people in the group, meet the Instructors, and for the team to check everyone is ok with the technical aspect of the Virtual Workshops.
• The ‘Workshop Lives’ last around 1.5 – 2 hours, and are where the Instructors recap the Workshop content, answer questions, and generate discussions within the group. Between each Workshop Live, you will have time to view the next required pre-recorded Workshop, and you will be sent an email detailing when it is time to watch each one.
• You must attend all Workshop Live dates in order to qualify for ongoing support from the Family Dog team.

What they cover

(Optional) Selecting the Right Dog

• Considerations
• Type of dog
• Puppy vs adult
• Rescue, breeders, and sourcing a dog

Workshop 1

• Meeting your dog’s needs
• Creating a safe home environment
• Dog-related laws
• Building the dog and child relationship
• Ways to support your child and dog

Workshop 2

• Canine communication
• How your dog can help your family and child
• How dogs learn
• Introduction to training

Workshop 3

• How to train your dog
• Different dog training styles
• Training tools
• Advanced training and autism assistance taskwork

Am I eligible to attend?

These Virtual Workshops are open to parents of autistic children, including those currently on the diagnostic pathway, aged between 3 – 16 years.

These workshops are designed for families at all stages: those with an existing adult pet dog, a new dog or puppy, and those without a dog but exploring the possibilities.

Family Dog Service, not Autism Assistance Dogs

Please note that the Family Dog Service is a separate service from the Autism Assistance Dogs service also offered by Dogs for Good.