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Seizure Dog
Seizure Dogs are highly skilled and well-trained working dogs that are partnered with children or adults affected by seizures. Seizure Alert Dogs can sense and notify their partner of an oncoming seizure, while Seizure Response Dogs provide assistance during and after a seizure. Both provide vital support and assistance, empowering their human companions to take on their day to day activities and helping them stay safe. Every Seizure Dog is selected and trained according to the specific needs of the individual suffering from seizures.
Benefits
Reduce Anxiety
They provide their partners and their families with greater peace of mind, knowing that the dog will alert and/or assist them during a seizure. Their constant companionship helps to reduce their partner’s anxiety as well as bring comfort and reassurance to their loved ones.
Encourage Social Activities
By addressing concerns about having a seizure away from home and serving as social catalysts, they encourage social engagement and encourage their partners to take up activities they previously would refrain.
Enhance Safety
Seizure Alert Dogs' early warning can prevent accidents, injury or the seizure itself. Seizure Response Dogs can keep their partners safe by alerting and providing assistance, support and comfort during and after an episode.
Improve Independence
The functional assistance and peace of mind they offer help their partners gain independence. Adults can be more confident in living or travelling alone, while parents can have some reassurance when they are not monitoring their child closely, like during the night or when the child is in a different room.
Foster Healthy Living
They require daily outdoor exercise, training and play time with their partners and their families, which in turn foster healthy living through regular exercise.
Vital Tasks
Seizure dogs are trained to perform specific tasks to alert prior to a seizure and provide assistance during and after the seizure. The tasks are chosen based on their partner’s individual needs. Examples of these vital tasks include:
1
Seizure Alert
Some dogs can sense and alert their partner prior to a seizure, giving them time to get into a safe position, notify family members or take emergency medication. They can also be trained to bark or otherwise alert other household members when their partner has a seizure. This is especially useful at night when everyone is asleep or if their partner is alone in a different room.
2
Press Buttons
They can be trained to activate a button during a seizure, like a medical alert button to notify emergency services or loved ones, or one pre-programmed to turn off electrical appliances in the home for safety.
3
Safety Positioning
They can position themselves to help prevent injury, such as holding their partner in a safe position or lying down against their partner during the seizure. Some dogs can learn to help break their partner’s fall at the start of a seizure. By staying close, they help keep their partner safe especially in a crowded, public area, and emergency instructions can be placed on their harness for passersby or first responders.
4
Retrieval
They can be taught to retrieve specific objects, like medication or a mobile phone, when asked or after a seizure. Using a backpack, they can also help carry vital medication and objects needed by their partner.
5
Stability Assistance
They provide support to help their partner get up and walk to a safe place, and provide comfort and stability while their partner is getting over the disorienting symptoms after a seizure subsides.
Seizure Response Dog
vs Seizure Alert Dog
Seizure Response Dogs provide assistance during and after a seizure. In order to train a dog to recognise the onset of a seizure, there must be unique and consistent visual, physical or audible cues that can be replicated. This means that seizures with symptoms that are easily imitated like Grand Mal, myoclonic, clonic and tonic seizures have a higher success rate for dogs to identify when a seizure is taking place.
Seizure Alert Dogs provide early warning before a seizure occurs. However, there is currently insufficient science-based evidence to guarantee the ability to anticipate seizures. Training of seizure alerts rely on hypothesised pre-seizure cues used by dogs (e.g. variations in behaviour and scent), which may not be accurate or consistent across the various types of seizures for different people.
That said, there are preliminary studies that suggest some dogs have an innate ability to alert to seizures and that dogs are able to alert for specific seizures and symptoms. Another preliminary study concluded that despite the variety of seizures and individual odours, seizures have specific scent that can be used to train a Seizure Alert Dog.
Depending on individual needs and the type of seizure, a Seizure Dog can be trained in both seizure alert and seizure response skills. Its training is more complex and the dog may never pick up the seizure alert skill. Even so, we will use the latest in research and science-based methods to set the dog up for success. Furthermore, effectiveness of a Seizure Alert Dog depends greatly on the human companion’s awareness of and response to the dog’s alerting behaviour.
The peace of mind offered by both Seizure Alert Dogs and Seizure Response Dogs cannot be understated. By performing helpful and potentially life-saving tasks, Seizure Dogs are transforming the lives of their human companions and their families all around the world. Some studies even indicated a reduction in the seizure frequency and severity when living with a Seizure Dog. Their unconditional love, devoted companionship and constant guardianship offers reassurance, security and friendship, and help their partners gain independence and enhance their quality of life.
Are you ready to consider how a Seizure Dog can change your life? Get in touch with us and we will be glad to answer all your questions on Seizure Dogs and how one can join your family.