There is some furry, four-legged help for parents with autistic children -- they're called dogs.

But not just any kind. These are specially-trained service dogs.

Mindy Cash-Golosky's son Daniel is autistic. "He's non-verbal and he functions at a lower level developmentally," she explained.

"Every task, from dressing himself to academic tasks has to be taught on a one-to-one basis and taught repetitively."

Daniel also needs someone on top of him at all times, she said, explaining: "He's unaware of his surroundings."

Enter Frolie, a golden retriever -- courtesy of National Service Dogs. It's the only organization in North America that links specially trained Labs and golden retreivers with autistic children and their families.

"A family with an autistic child approached me for help. We did some research and designed a program," said the program's co-founder, Chris Fowler.

"The primary function of a service dog for autism is safety!" reads the group's website.

"There is a small window of opportunity when the dogs can physically stop a child from bolting into the street or away from the parents in public."

That's because the child and the dog are connected by a special leash.

The dogs are trained for a two-year period in a two-stage process before being matched with a child and family.

There is a concept known as the law of unintended consequences. In the case of the dogs, those unintended consequences were good.

Autistic children don't connect with other people and don't show emotion. But you can see autistic kids hug and kiss their canine companions.

"It's coming, but slowly," Mindy said of her son. "Daniel takes a long time to warm up to anyone or anything."

In addition, autistic children can often be overwhelmed by uncontrolled environments with different sights, sounds and smells. With a service dog, the children are much calmer.

There are some catches. If the child is scared of large dogs, the program won't work.

The presence of untrained pet dog in the home poses challenges in training the service dog.

Training a service dog costs $12,000. "NSD asks families to assist with the fundraising for the sponsorship of their dog. NSD will work with the family to ensure their success! If a family falls short of their $12,000 target this will NOT disqualify them from receiving a dog," NSD's website says.

So far, about 85 Canadian families have been matched with dogs.

With a report from CTV's Sandie Rinaldo