Just saw part of a story on TodayTonight about Righteous Pups ( http://www.righteouspups.org.au/Home/tabid/122/Default.aspx ) having trained a seizure alert dog. They claimed it as the first dog in Australia trained to do this behaviour, as distinct from dogs that have developed the behaviour themselves. It seemed (TT not being inclined to give detailed explanation of the training lol) that the dog was trained to alert on movements resembling a seizure - which would be ridiculously easy to do, guess they hope from there it will develop the ability to identify approaching seizures.

Didn't see TT. Had a quick look at their website with no mention at the moment of this dog or their training. I couldn't see where their dogs would be classed as service dogs ie dogs allowed all access like guide dogs. There's no guarantee that the dog would learn to predict seizures but I would think it would still give families peace of mind if the dog is trained to alert them if their child is having a seizure. Mind you a young friend of ours had a seizure in the shower - so the dog must go everywhere with you to be really effective!!!

I'm not sure but aren't their different types of seizures so a dog would have to be trained specifically for each person wouldn't they??

Interesting that they are associated with PetStock - new store just opened locally and my vet has opened a branch in it. My puppy preschool instructor (vet's wife Delta trained) spoke of wanting to start dog training there and Righteous Pups are setting up dog training classes at various branches apparently. Haven't seen anything up here yet though.

There is different types of seizures, the worse one is Clonic tonic used to be called Grand Mal. This is the seizure where a full fit is in process and the subject loses consciousness and convulses. Their is also abscence seizures where the person just stops what they are doing, like a pause. Their the two that I remember, I know there are a couple more.

I used to suffer from tonic clonic seizures and my foxy used to alert me BEFORE the seizure because by the time I had movements with a seizure I would be unconscious. Barney (foxy) used to alert me so I had enough time to get on the ground or sit down, less likely to injure myself that way. So I don't know how the dog is going to help in that regard.

Will see whether the trained dog thing will work, do you know what breed it was at all? Sorry if I sound sceptical about it.

It was a lab, seems they use them exclusively??

I think that once the dog is living with the child and has this history of being reinforced for alerting to the child's movements, then it's pretty likely to start reacting as soon as it is aware that they are going to happen. But it would probably have to spend a bit of time with her to learn how to identify the signs.

Bluedog, I also looked at the Righteous Pups site, and was surprised there wasn't anything there about them talking to TT.