Effects Of Dogs On Autism

This note raises a whole lot of issues. I suppose the first is whether or not dogs can suffer from autism. This is a very active debate, with some researchers claiming that canine autism is a bona fide condition while others do not. The science is ambiguous. Researchers have mostly reached the conclusion that the autism is idiopathic, which simply means that its cause is unknown. However it has also been determined that the condition is congenital, which means that dogs are born with it and don't develop it over time. Other research suggests that there are genetic components to canine autism which may be inherited from the dog's parents, and these may affect the development of the so-called "mirror neurons" which appear to be associated with