Assistance Dogs for Epilepsy

Epilepsy is a neurological disorder in which clusters of nerve cells in the brain fire erratically, causing muscle spasms, disturbed emotions or behavior and sometimes, loss of consciousness. Epilepsy patients are often prescribed medication to control seizures, but these medications do not always provide relief. Recently, training dogs to recognize when their owners are about to have a seizure and provide assistance during the event has become another method of helping those with the disorder.

  1. How Seizure Dogs Came To Be

    • Trained epilepsy assistance dogs, or seizure dogs, came to be through anecdotal stories from epilepsy patients and their families. Over time and long association, they noticed that their dogs would "react" during, and sometimes before, a seizure to alert other family members that the patient was in distress. This led to research to investigate the possibility of formal training of dogs to help epilepsy sufferers during attacks and for other purposes, according the Epilepsy Foundation.

    What Epilepsy Assistance Dogs Do

    • Dogs can be trained to alert other family members to an imminent seizure by pawing in a certain way, barking continuously until action is taken, or jumping on them. The dogs do not predict seizures. It is thought that they simply respond to subtle changes in behavior and mood that often accompany the early stages of seizure. Not all dogs can detect when seizures are imminent, but they can help in other ways. They can sit with the patient to make sure the patient is not alone or injured. They can be trained to push alarms that call 911. They can help with daily tasks that make life easier for those with epilepsy. But most importantly, they allow epilepsy patients to feel more confident and carry on more normal lives.

    Training of Seizure Dogs

    • Dogs with the proper characteristics are chosen at a young age. They must be likely to be good companion animals, must be eager to please and eager to learn. They must not easily get distracted. Dogs with the correct personality are trained to be calm when people are having a seizure. Specific training is broken down into individual steps with rewards over a long period of repetition. They are tested with likely scenarios that would occur with any epilepsy patient to see that the dog can do its tasks correctly every time. When the dog has fulfilled all these requirements, it is deemed ready to be placed with patient who needs help for seizures.

    Epilepsy Patients & Seizure Dogs

    • Every effort is made to match the personality of the epilepsy patient with the personality of the dog. Then, the patient is trained in utilizing her dog in everyday life.

    Organizations That Train Seizure Dogs

    • Many organizations that train assistance dogs for the disabled also train for seizure alert and response. Some of these organizations charge large fees for the dogs, but there are also nonprofit organizations that offer expertly trained dogs free-of-charge.