(Answers to Correspondents)
Question: Seizure alert dogs are trained to give their epileptic owners a 20-minute advance warning. How can the dogs tell a seizure is imminent?
Answer: Epilepsy is the most common neurological illness, with more than 420,000 cases in the UK, a figure that equates to one in every 130 people.
Only 60 percent of epilepsy cases are controlled by medication, leaving the remaining 40 percent living with the fear of an attack that can strike without warning.
Support Dogs is the only organisation in the world that trains seizure alert dogs. Our dogs also help with other conditions. We are just beginning the final year of a three year research project, but results so far suggest that dogs can reduce the frequency and severity of seizures by up to 40 percent.
Dogs must not have witnessed a seizure before commencing training, after which they will give an accurate advance warning of 15 to 45 minutes. They are individually trained for each client and pick up on minute behavioural changes before a seizure that go unnoticed by humans.
Each person shows unique signs before a seizure, such as eyelid twitching, a pupil dilating, change in facial tone, etc.
The dogs watch constantly for these signs and warn their owner by barking, pawing or staring before an attack comes on, allowing time to find a place of safety. Some dogs are even being trained to wake people if they are asleep when a seizure is imminent.
Janet Vazson, Support Dogs, Chapeltown, Sheffield.
© 2002 Daily Mail
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