What should you know about seizure alert dogs?

A trained dog may respond to changes in movement, behaviour, smell, or body signals around a seizure. Some dogs appear to alert before an event, while others provide help during or after it. Responses vary between dogs and between people, so an alert should be treated as a useful warning rather than a prediction that always arrives.

Training can focus on staying with a person, getting another person’s attention, activating an alarm, bringing a phone, or creating space after a seizure. A dog cannot diagnose the cause of a seizure. Seizures can occur in different settings, including with conditions such as Hypoglycaemia, Alcohol Use Disorder, or Meningitis, and those causes need medical assessment.

Choose an organisation that explains its training methods, matches the dog’s tasks to your needs, and includes follow-up support. Share the dog’s role with family, school, work, and other carers so they know how to respond rather than crowding you or distracting the animal.

Keep prescribed medicines, a written seizure action plan, and emergency contacts available. Record what the dog alerts to and what happens afterwards; this can help a clinician compare the alert with the event. During a seizure, bystanders should protect your head, move hazards away, avoid restraining you, and never put anything in your mouth.

Call emergency services if a seizure lasts longer than your clinician’s stated limit, repeats without recovery, causes a serious injury, happens in water, affects breathing, or is a first known seizure. Seek urgent assessment for unusual confusion, severe headache, fever with a stiff neck, or new weakness after the event.

Ask whether your episodes have been assessed, what tasks a support dog could reasonably perform, which warning signs require emergency action, and how relatives should use your seizure action plan.