Children with seizure disorders could not pinpoint signs of an impending seizure. Today, seizure-sniffing dogs are helping a lot of children and their parents by detecting and sniffing out impending attacks that prevent accidents and falls.
Alyssa Howes lost her eyesight when she was just four years old and started having seizures up to 20 a day. For many years, her grandmother would sleep with her at night watching for an attack. However, her life changed after she received Flint, a service dog.
Flint is a seizure-sniffing dog that would warn Alyssa's parents if she would have an attack which could prevent falls or accidents, reports Yibada News. Scientists believe that dogs are able to smell chemical changes before the child is about to have an attack. The dog then warns adults of the attack through barking.
According to Alyssa's parents, she is now living a normal life thanks to Flint. "It gives her a companion to enjoy the moments when she is doing things she likes to do. And if she is having a bad day, she will call him and they will just be together," Juliette Palomaki told KWQC News.
Karen Shirk, founder of 4 Paws for Ability, a nonprofit that breeds and trains service dogs, "Not enough dogs are being trained for children with epilepsy, autism and other disabilities." Furthermore, only a few organizations are able to train service dogs for younger children because more of these groups require teens to be at least 16 years old and above. This is due to the fact that children should be old enough to handle the dog in public.
Moreover, it is very expensive to train service dogs. It would cost around $22,000 to train these dogs that is why they are requiring each family to at least raise $15,000. But for Alyssa's family, the cost of the service dog could not replace the happiness she is feeling now for having a normal life. She is now 11 years old.
