A question asked on behalf of my friend.

Question
I know this may be out of your expertise but I believe you can help. My best friend has a 3 year old brendall boxer named Lilly. My friend could tell that there was something different about Lilly. As the both of us really got into neurological disorders like autism my friend noticed that Lilly was definitely showing autistic-like behaviors but in a different way. My friend figured out that she does have autism. An autistic child will throw a temper tantrum when things don't go their way, when this happens Lilly whines. Lilly also is very hyper and seems to have a short attention span. Autistic children do not usually know how to play with toys or communicate with people. There is another dog in the house in which Lilly play fights with but it gets out of hand and the other dog kind of bites her to let her know that he's had enough. During play fighting the pich of the growls and noises made are a pitch higher than what they usually would be. When I met Lilly she jumped on me and licked me in the face and didn't know when to stop. Lilly also has seperation anxiety because she whines a lot when my friend and her mom are not home. Lilly still whines when my friend is there but not as much. This year we discovered a little more about why Lilly has autism. My friend had heard about Lillian L. Gill, an autistic girl who suffocated and died and who's story made major headlines, and at first believe that Lilly was a reincarnation of her. There has been a few times where my friend has called Lilly Lillian and she responded to it. My friend also recorded the song "I'm In Here" (which is known as the anthem for autism) from the computer, sat down by Lilly and played the song. Afterwards my friend asked Lilly "Are you happy that I know now?" and Lilly licked her in the face. All of these events proved that Lilly is not just a brendall boxer with autism, she is a reincarnation of Lillian L Gill. my friend got Lilly in 2006, two years after Lillian was killed. What is your opinion on this and what should my friend do for training?

Answer
Hi

sorry, this is out of my area of expertise.  I do however, believe you should always seek out the simplest explanation for any behavior, and work upwards from there.  What you have described to me of Lilly's behavior is typical of many boxers.

Best regards,

Lucy