Dogs Trained to Help People with Seizures

A seizure alert dog can sense when a seizure is coming and will notify his human companion. Seizure dogs are extremely valuable to the human companion they are placed with, whether they alert, respond or assist before, during or after a seizure.

  1. Sensing Oncoming Seizure

    • Seizure alert dogs can sense when their human companion is about to have a seizure and can notify him as such. Notification is reported to happen anywhere from several seconds to 45 minutes before the seizure begins. A dog sensing an oncoming seizure will exhibit obvious changes in its behavior, including close eye contact, circling, pawing and barking.

    Different Types of Seizure Dogs

    • Seizure dogs are not all necessarily "alert" dogs. Some of them are seizure-response or -assist dogs who assist during or after a seizure. A seizure-assist dog is trained to stay close to his human companion for the length of the seizure and can also retrieve medication, the telephone or another human.

    Potential Seizure Dog Owners

    • A person thinking about getting a seizure dog must assess whether or not she is physically, emotionally and financially able to care for a dog, because it is quite different from owning a pet. A seizure dog owner must be able to maintain training, health and a good relationship with a veterinarian familiar with these dogs. You must be able to provide your seizure dog with plenty of playtime and exercise in order to keep his stress levels to a minimum.

    Training to be a Seizure Dog

    • Any dog training to be a seizure dog must be able to keep control in all situations. It is hard to train and it is rare to find a dog that is fit to do the job. There are approximately 120 service dog training organizations in the United States, and not even 20 of them work with seizure assist dogs. Seizure dog training can take anywhere from 6 months to 2 years and can cost from $10,000 to $25,000.

    Origin of the Term

    • The term "seizure dog" came about in the mid-1980s during a Washington state prison project involving dogs. A woman with epilepsy who was working with the project noticed that one of the dogs seemed to know whenever she was going to have a seizure. A Lifetime television drama titled "Within These Walls" is loosely based on this experience.