BONNIE - a Cavalier King Charles "therapy dog" - is snoozing contentedly in the corner of an armchair. Occasionally she lifts her head to gaze at us with big doleful eyes before snuggling back into the cushions.

It's hard to imagine that anyone could regard this placid pooch as a threat or a creature to be feared, and yet Dom (not his real name), a 14-year-old Bournemouth schoolboy, couldn't even bear to be in the same room as her at first.

For Dom has autism - a lifelong developmental disability which affects the way a person communicates or relates to the world around them.

Bronwen Pendray who lives in Southbourne with her four dogs, is an animal assisted therapy specialist who helps children overcome their fear of dogs.

She has been working with Dom for the past 12 months to help him conquer his dog phobia or cynophobia to give it its proper Latin name.

"I started working with dog phobic children a couple of years ago and many of them are autistic.

Very often with autistic children there is no specific reason why they are dog phobic - there's no trauma involved but because they view the world differently to the rest of us they're more prone to these sort of fears.

It could be anything from butterflies to traffic to a particular type of noise that frightens them."

Bronwen who works on a voluntary basis, has an insight into the condition as her own son who is now 37, has Asperger Syndrome, which is a form of autism.

"We knew our son was different when he was a child but of course not much was known about autism them.

"It wasn't until he was 16 that he was diagnosed with Asperger's."

When Bronwen first took Bonnie to meet Dom, she says they had to sit in the conservatory with a chair pushed up against the door because he was so scared of a dog being in the house.

But eventually over a period of 12 months she has helped Dom overcome his fear to the extent that he even went along to a local dog show where he was surrounded by dogs of all shapes and sizes.

"It's not a miracle cure - the aim is to get the child to accept the dog's presence - they don't need to love them or even like them but the idea is to help them not to panic or get stressed if they see a dog," explains Bronwen.

Bronwen's services are free of charge provided by Caring Canines - a local voluntary group which runs a number of community programmes including a Be Dogwise scheme in local schools.

"Dogs can play an important role in maintaining emotional stability," adds Bronwen.

"It's a wonderful therapy that dogs can bring although it's not widely known about in UK yet but it is far more mainstream in the States."

Dom's mum Julie, not her real name, said her son's fear of dogs had impinged his quality of life to the point that they couldn't even go to their local park.

"Although there are signs saying please keep your dog on a lead many dog owners disregard this and my son was constantly terrified.

"My son will never actually like dogs, but just to be able to go out without worrying about what he will do if he sees a dog is a huge relief. The day my son went for a walk with Bronwen's dog was a real celebration."

Nick Gregory, a specialist nurse in autistic spectrum disorders based at Poole Hospital, confirmed that dog phobia was a common problem amongst autistic children.

"Initially the boy was extremely anxious about having a dog in the room at all but over six sessions or so he has made fantastic progress to the point where he can actually take the lead and take the dog for a walk quite comfortably."

For more information contact Caring Canines on 01202 579744.

FACT PANEL

Autism affects around 2.3 million people in the UK and is four or five times more prevalent in males. A spokesman for the Autistic Society said it can be hard because people with autism do not look disabled.

"Parents of children with autism often say that people think their child is just being naughty.

"People with autism have said the world to them is a mass of people, places and events which they struggle to make sense of and which often causes them anxiety.

In particular understanding and relating to people and taking part in everyday family life and school life may be harder for them."

For more information contact the autism helpline on 0845 070 4004.