Specially trained dogs can predict seizures

Man's best friend is moving into medicine and saving lives. There are a small number of dogs that can warn a person that a seizure is coming. Barbara Roberts has epilepsy. Her seizure alert dog, named Eric, warns her to a possible seizure five or six times each day. On the day we visited her, Eric alerted her twice by sitting or standing in front of her and not letting her move.

According to Barbara, "I will stop. I will start relaxing. I will not move. He won't let me move. Any command I give him he won't do." The "stopping and relaxing" can often derail the seizure. Then Eric moves in order to cue Barbara that it's okay for her to get back to whatever she was doing. "I'll be in a meeting at work and all of a sudden I'll look over and he's standing straight and I'm realizing I'm getting a little stressed and I have to back off from what I'm doing," according to Barbara.

"I think it's remarkable," she adds.Eric is one of just two seizure alert dogs in Massachusetts trained by Canine Partners for Life, an organization based in Pennsylvania. "This is kind of a natural instinct that the dog has," according to Darlene Sullivan who heads the group. "We don't know what the dogs are detecting for sure. We believe that they are picking up on electrical and chemical changes that are going on in the person's body, and we think that they are doing this through scent," says Sullivan.Barbara Roberts admits that at first she was skeptical.

"I came from something going, oh I don't believe this. Within the second week, when I was realizing he was alerting me, and I would sit down and relax, I realized I was catching myself," says Roberts.The dogs are also taught to open doors, and carry briefcases. It's an intense two year training program before they're placed.

"I feel like now it's making a big difference in my life," according to Barbara.Only 28 of these service dogs are available each year, and there's a long waiting list. The training costs for each dog are about $20,000, all supported through donations.