We are considering a dog just because my husband is a dog person he grew up with dogs and likes to hunt. So I have been doing some research on what are the best pets for families with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

The most common pet of course is a dog. There are trained service dogs for families with ASD but the time and cost seem huge, $12,000 and you must qualify with your disability. The benefit to having a service dog is being able to have the dog go with your child everywhere (a normal pet can’t go into public places). The security and added protection would be nice.

Pet dogs offer a lot of the same benefits service dogs offer.
Dogs offer respite they have the time and patients to interact with the child on a full time basis.

Dogs can calm parents.

Dogs can sometimes protect the child and help with socialization.

Autistic children find it easy to focus on the animal in a socially appropriate way. If the animal is with the child when interacting with other people, the interaction with others is likely to be accepted.

Pets teach empathy and responsibility.

Other Pets
Cats are very calming as well as entertaining for any human but especially for ASD families. Cats also are less maintanance and can be left alone for periods of time. Just be sure you have no allergies also be sure your child will not hurt the cat, they are not as durable as dogs.

Horses have become very popular as a form of therapy for autistic children. If you can afford the therapy or the pet horse these seem to be very nice options as well.

Smaller hampsters, guinnia pigs, rabbits and ferrets are also good pets. They can teach your child responsibility as well as entertain your child.

There are several web sites with great information about pets for autistic spectrum families.

Temple Grandin has a book as well.
http://www.scn.org/people/autistics/pets.html