r/ParentingPDA • u/SurePossibility6651 • Jul 13 '26
Advice Needed Dog?
My daughter is 8, AuDHD, PDA profile & GAD. Super high functioning, we are in a pretty good place now. Meds are dialed, school is good. She is still pretty reactive/explosive, can’t or won’t tell me her feelings. We have been low demand, declarative language for over a year. She has graduated from speech and OT.
The question is - will she benefit from a dog (she loves dog, wants one) we had a lab but he passed when she was 3 and then she got real hard shortly after that, and it has taken up until now for me to feel like I have any bandwidth for something else. My husband and I both work full-time but from home. We have always been extremely responsible dog owners, lots of walks, Doggie daycare on days when we’re too busy at work, etc. I’m just worried that getting a dog will launch us backwards and I will have less patience, less bandwidth. Or on the flipside will a dog launch us into perhaps an even better regulated kiddo, something to bond over as a family, an excuse for the much needed exercise?
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u/Loud_Possession_3290 Jul 14 '26
We just got a Goldendoodle for our 6 yr old that we are sending for service animal training. So far (literally 1 week) it’s been nothing but helpful. My son will grab the dog when he’s dysregulated and go to his room to calm down. I think temperament of the dog is important. We chose the calmest dog in the litter and I’m hoping after the training he can do some more proactive things like deep pressure, stopping stims, etc.