Dog is helping owner during seizures

The old saying goes, "a dog is man's best friend." That's nothing short of the truth for one East Alabama woman. Ginny DeGroff has epilepsy, and her rottweiler is trained in many ways to get help if she has a seizure.

"She can tell before I have a seizure. Don't ask me how they do it. She also tells me when to take my medicine. She can hold me down because grand mal seizures can be so violent that we can hurt another human," said DeGroff.

Wolfia also has a handicapped-enabled cell phone.

"If you hold any of the keys down for five seconds or longer, it's usually carried in this pouch right here, and she'll roll over on it, and it gives you a tone. After those five seconds, it'll call 911," DeGroff said.

DeGroff suffered head trauma from a gunshot wound and when a horse fell on her. Now she's at the Achievement Center of Opelika improving her typing skills and trying to find an employer that will allow Wolfia to come along.

"Working around food, I could understand it more. But clerical and secretarial, there's no reason because, as you see, she stays where I tell her to stay," said DeGroff.

Achievement Center managers say the accidents did not affect her abilities.

"That's why it's so important for us to demonstrate that people can work with those type people even though they're disabled and have an assistance-type dog. There's nothing that prevents that person from being productive," said Frankie Mitchum, Achievement Center administrator.

Wherever DeGroff goes, Wolfia is her biggest supporter and lifesaver. She says Wolfia understands Spanish, two Indian dialects, English, some German and sign language. On average, DeGroff has a seizure every other month and may be only able to communicate by moving her hands.