Dogs for People with Seizure Disorders

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Almost 60 million people have seizures, of the 60 million 20 million are in the United States. Most people with seizure disorders will stay home or limit their time out for fear of having a seizure while they are out. Since people with seizure disorders don’t go out the lose out on the quality of life they should be able to enjoy. When people with seizure disorders get a seizure warning dog they are less afraid to leave home and can enjoy more freedom in their life. A seizure warning dog not only warns them when a seizure will occur, they also help them during a seizure. Some of the ways they help is:

The dogs let their human partner know up to an hour ahead of time that a seizure is going to occur.

The dogs will protect their human partner from getting hurt during a seizure no matter where it happens.

The dogs help keep their human partner calm during a seizure.

The dogs will retrieve medicine or a phone for their human partners if needed.

The dogs also can let someone else know their human partner needs help

The dogs can also open a door and turn on the porch light for emergency personal to get to their human partners.

How a Seizure Dog is Trained

For a dog to be considered for a seizure warning dog they first have to go through 2 years of obedience training and regular and advanced service training. After they finish all their training they are evaluated to see if they can be a seizure training dog. If it is decided a dog can be a seizure warning dog then they are taught the skills they need to warn a person about a seizure.

A seizure warning dog can let their partner know of a seizure in several ways. Some of these ways include:

Looking their human partner in the eyes close up

Tapping their human partner with their paw

They may bark at their human partner

They may circle around them or pace around them.

They may constantly lick in them.

The dog may just act real restlessly.

Most seizure warning dogs have a good record of warning their human partners of a seizure. It is long after they are placed that the dogs begin to warn their human partners of a seizure. The part that can take a while is the understanding of the warnings and of the gaining of trust between the seizure warning do and their human partner. Once understanding and trust are reached then it is easy for the seizure warning dog to let their human partner know and a seizure and the human partner will know what to do such as lay down or sit down.

So if you or someone you know has a seizure disorder then a seizure warning dog may be just what you or they need to regain their independence and quality of life back.