Yesterday, Alex had a difficult day. He was upset with lots of verbal protesting and self-injury. We gave him some space to try and calm down and something very wonderful happened.
He went to where Lynyrd was curled up on the couch. Alex wrapped his arms around Lynyrd and put his head down on Lynyrd's back. (I was watching to make sure there was no aggression.) Lynyrd curled his head around to rest on Alex's shoulder and the two of them sat like that for quite awhile, in a dog-boy hug.
When Alex sat up, he was much calmer. He patted Lynyrd on the head and said "Thank you, Lynyrd."
I would have loved to get a picture but I didn't want to disturb them. It's pretty awesome that Alex sought Lynyrd out when he was upset and that Lynyrd was able to help him feel better.
That's the kind of independence that we were hoping for when we applied for a service dog.
