Guide dogs for the deaf and blind have been around for years, but today service dogs can help people with other health conditions, from diabetes to multiple sclerosis, epilepsy and depression. These incredible pooches are truly best friends for seniors.
Multiple Sclerosis and More
For people with limited mobility because of a neuromuscular condition such as muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, Lou Gehrig’s disease, or cerebral palsy, service dogs can push wheelchairs, turn lights on and off, open and close doors, and run for help in the event of an emergency. A dog also naturally provides a constant source of companionship, which is especially important for a child with a de-mobilizing condition.
Service dogs for people with assisted mobility and physical disabilities make up the second-largest category of such dogs in the United States, after guide dogs for the blind, according to Assistance Dogs International (ADI), a coalition of non-profit organizations that train and place service dogs. There were nearly 5,000 such service dogs in use in 2010, according to ADI census data.
Blindness
Guide dogs for the blind make up the largest category of service dogs, according to ADI, with more than 10,000 in use in 2010. This category of assistance dogs has also been around the longest.
The first guide dog school in the United States was The Seeing Eye, founded in 1929 by Morris Frank, a blind man who was trained and inspired by Dorothy Harrison Eustis, an American living in Switzerland who observed blind German veterans guided by trained German shepherds, according to a paper in Disability Studies Quarterly.
By affirming that it’s safe for their companion to cross the street, venture up a flight of stairs, or simply turn left or right, guide dogs for the blind replace the need for a cane and help make their owners more mobile and independent.
Epilepsy
Epilepsy is a chronic condition characterized by recurrent seizures. A person may be diagnosed with epilepsy if he or she has two or more unprovoked seizures, which can be anything from staring spells or twitching to more serious (and noticeable) grand mal seizures. “The problem with seizures is that you never know when they’re going to happen,” says Kathy Von Dollen, whose 19-year-old son Matthew has epilepsy and eagerly awaits a service dog from Canine Assistants in the Everyday Health episode.
Seizure response dogs are trained to know how best to respond when their companion is having a seizure, whether it’s staying beside them for the duration of the episode or leaving to get help. For reasons still unknown to scientists, some dogs can actually develop the ability to sense an oncoming seizure over time. Nearly 200 seizure response dogs are currently working in the United States, according to ADI.
Deafness
Also called signal dogs, dogs that help deaf and hearing-impaired people have been in use for about 35 years, according to the Disability Studies Quarterly. There are currently nearly 1,700 such dogs in the United States. They’re specially trained to be aware of surrounding sounds like smoke alarms, doorbells, and tea kettles.
Diabetes
A smaller, highly specialized group of service dogs (there are only around 27 currently working in the entire country, according to ADI) are trained to help insulin-dependent people with diabetes. They can recognize hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) based on super-subtle changes in scent that the drop in blood sugar creates. A dog’s ability to predict an oncoming hypoglycemic attack and let its owner know, sometimes even waking them up in the middle of the night, gives the person with diabetes the crucial notice they need to prevent complications, such as eating or drinking something with sugar, like hard candy or fruit juice.
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