Seizure Dog Training Procedures
Who is a seizure dog? The Seizure dogs are those who can help when a family member is having a seizure. A few dogs may even be able to predict when people will have a seizure. They are an alarm system. They are helpers, protectors, and service providers. They may even be able to sense in advance when someone they are close to is going to have an epileptic seizure! Some dogs have been trained to bark or otherwise alert families when a person has a seizure. Some dogs learn to lie next to someone having a seizure to prevent injury. Others are even said to be able to activate the telephone or operate a medical line and assist with any other tasks needed. In addition to providing the alerts to an impending seizure, seizure alert dogs also provide balance and stability to their partners following the seizure. Due to the differing needs between each case, every potential seizure dog receives specialized training. Tasks for seizure dogs may include: • Pulling potentially dangerous objects away from the person's body. • "Blocking" to keep individuals with absence seizures from walking into obstacles, streets, and other dangerous areas. • Asking for help, either by finding another person or activating a medical alert or pre-programmed phone. • Attempting to arouse the unconscious handler during or after a seizure • Providing physical support (and the secondary benefit of emotional support, although this is not legally considered a task). • Carrying information regarding the dog and the handler's medical condition. Dogs that are trained to respond in various ways when people have a seizure are no different from other service dogs. Regarding the question of seizure prediction it's a different story. Most people who report having dogs with this ability say that it develops over time and comes as a surprise. No particular breed is better at sensing on an incoming seizure than any other. Dr. Stephen W. Brown, a British neuropsychiatries and epilepsy specialist, and Val Strong, a behavioral scientist and animal trainer, reported in 1999 in the European Journal of Epilepsy Seizure that, working with people with epilepsy and dogs together, they were able to train some of the dogs to warn of seizures. The training was based on reward-based conditioning - that is, the dogs got a reward every time their owners had seizures. The dogs he trained were sometimes able to give warning as much as 15 to 45 minutes before the actual seizure occurred. The way the dogs behaved took different forms, from pawing in a special way to simply approaching the person and barking. Dogs can be trained to stay with the person during a seizure or to press a button on the phone that dials 911. Thus dogs are increasingly being used in helping human kind in every way. Human kind is also increasing their use in every day in various newer fields. Though human kind has become more and more mechanized yet man’s oldest friend is still by their side.
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