seizure dogs

Seizure dogs—also known as seizure alert/response dogs—as implied by their name, are dogs that can either sense and notify their human partners of an oncoming seizure, intervene to help bring the human partner out of seizure state or provide post-seizure assistance.  The alerting behavior has been reported to occur several seconds to 45 minutes or more before the onset of the seizure.  Dogs are trained to alert by exhibiting marked changes in behavior, including close eye contact, circling, pawing, barking, etc.  Not all seizure dogs are “alert” dogs.  In fact, there are different types of seizure dogs depending on the skill set they either have or acquire through training.

Whereas seizure alert dogs can assist their human companions before a seizure occurs, seizure-response or seizure assist dogs assist during and after a seizure.  This behavior can be innate or trained.  Seizure assist dogs can be trained to stay close to their companions for the duration of the seizure, to intervene to encourage the handler to come out of the seizure state, as well as fetch medications, a telephone or caretaker.  A seizure assistance dog is trained to assist their human partner, but may or may not alert.