The boy with the dog

He sat on a carpet at the entrance of the library. A little bend, one leg under the other. In his hand a leash and in front of him a big dog, probably a leonberger.

Suddenly he raised and took some steps towards the books. A man rushed to him and told him to sit down, he did that but the dog kept on standing. 

In some minutes the man was back, probably a keeper that helped the boy. He told one of the librarians that the boy had chosen the dog. 

When they had visited a kennel, the boy was suddenly gone but was found beside the dog in a cage.

They must have bought the dog and now, the man said, the boy is the only one that the dog listens to.

"He protects him", he went on.

The man said to the boy to stand up, the boy hesitated but then slowly stood up. The dog just watched the scene. The boy said nothing, probably mute. He must communicate with the dog in another way. 

I have seen the boy another time, a teenager, but quite small - walking like he was lame - one hand moving in front of his face in a repetitive way. Like so many people with autism.

The boy and the dog must have found each other. Perhaps the dog really cares for the boy, or feels that he is needed. The boy cannot anyway play the roll of pack leader.
 I have seen this remarkably  tender connections  between animals and handicapped or old people before.

And here is a film about this kind of phenomena, though here it's about  trained dogs:

It seems to work best if the dogs are kind of lazy - or "mindful"...


A  longer documentary film of a boy with autism who learns to ride horses in Mongolia, "The Horse Boy" (his mother, Kristin Neff, is an associate professor and teaches for instance mindfulness at the University of  Texas):