Dog Health: Man’s Best Friend Close to Doubling as His Best Man

At age 22, most young men would scoff at the idea of having a chaperone 24 hours a day.

But Mitch Peterson of Monmouth, Ill., said his seizure-response dog, London, gave him his life back.

“I have a lot more freedom than I used to,” said Mitch, who now enjoys living alone and working in his town’s high school library. “I don’t have to be watched 24-hours a day. When you’re a teenager, you didn’t want to be reliant on other people.”

Mitch began having epileptic seizures at age 14, and had to sleep next to a baby monitor during his high school years for his parent’s peace of mind.

Mitch’s mother, Vanya Peterson, said before her son received London, an energetic golden retriever-yellow lab mix, she questioned whether he was going to survive his seizures and seizure-related injuries.

“He was having 10 seizures an hour,” she said, “and could not be left alone. The ambulance was at our house more times than not.”

On Mitch’s 18th birthday, Vanya, desperate to help her son, contacted non-profit organization Canine Assistants, based in Georgia, and applied for a dog health service. This birthday wish was granted almost exactly two years later.

“Having London has completely changed our lives,” Vanya said. “After seeing our son in such a hard state and with his health deteriorating -- to see him turn around, be so positive and look forward to life -- it’s just a blessing.”

Prior to receiving London, Mitch followed the advice of doctors and had a vagal nerve stimulator implanted. This device is comparable to a heart pacemaker, except it’s for the brain, said Dr. Michael Smith, director of Rush University Hospital’s epilepsy center. It sends electrical pulses to help curb seizures.

If a seizure can be predicted, Smith said, the stimulator can be turned on at a higher rate. The stimulator is highly effective if it is triggered in anticipation of a seizure – a feat London and other response dogs have mastered.

“Over 95 percent of the dogs we have placed developed the ability to predict [seizure] onset,” said Jennifer Arnold, founder of Canine Assistants.

London wears a magnet around his neck that can trigger Mitch’s nerve stimulator. When the dog senses Mitch is going to seizure, he “cuddles” his owner, triggering shock waves that prevent or at least minimize the occurrence.

Arnold said she is convinced canines “predict onset through their phenomenal sense of smell – that the human body produces an odor of some sort before a seizure.”

Canine Assistants is undertaking a research project with pharmaceutical company UCB Pharma, with hopes of determining how dogs predict seizures. Arnold said it is her “life’s quest to find the answer … that if we can just determine how the dogs know, we can save a lot of lives.”

Mitch emphasized a dog’s sixth sense, and said he thinks canine intuition plays a large role in preventing owner’s seizures.

“There is a strong bond between the dog and person,” Mitch said. “They sense what’s going on inside the person – they have a feeling of connection with the person.”

Seizure-response dogs also play a key role in preventing masters from injuring themselves during a seizure, Smith said. The canines are trained to gently pull their masters to the ground before or during an episode, something Mitch has experienced with London.

“Seizure dogs literally save peoples’ lives,” Arnold said. “You just don’t realize that people seizure to death. In having the dog, at least you know you’ll be safe. They’ll be right there.”

Each seizure-response dog, which knows about 90 commands following an average of two years of schooling, is trained slightly differently depending on an owner’s needs. Most of them are trained to hit a home-based 9-1-1 switch in case of emergency.

In the 17 years the organization has placed help dogs, there has only been one 9-1-1 false alarm. A service dog hit the switch during a thunderstorm – “apparently he thought it was an emergency,” Arnold said.

If emergencies occur outside the home, bystanders can find instructions inside a service dog’s backpack, such as contact information for someone to call if an individual is confused after a seizure.

Seizure response dogs are predominantly golden retrievers, golden-lab mixes or golden-poodle mixes. These people-oriented breeds, said Arnold, have a natural instinct to use their mouth for all of the tasks that are needed for their owner, like tugging open a drawer.

Since people tend to feel comfortable with these particular canines, the dogs boost their masters’ mental health and lift their spirits by sparking conversations with others in the community, Mitch said.

“I’ve seen several people who’ve had epilepsy who don’t have great morale because they’re relying on other people for their needs,” Mitch said. “Even if they don’t have another friend in the world, they have their service dog health. They’ll always be loyal. They won’t leave your side.”

Although Canine Assistants has placed nearly 1,000 help dogs for individuals with epilepsy and other diseases, and has roughly 120 more in training, the waitlist for a such dogs tops 1,000. In greater Chicago, 13 individuals are waiting for Canine Assistants to provide them with a companion, 11 specifically for seizure-response dogs.

And it’s not first-come, first-serve. Applicants are ranked based on the appropriateness of canine placement and the degree to which it would provide help, Arnold said. The wait time ranges between one and five years.

“Basically, it boils down to not having enough money to expand,” said Arnold, who estimated each service dog costs an average of $20,000, including training.

While UCB Pharma currently sponsors all of Canine Assistants’ seizure response dogs, there are critics.

“Optimally, humans should be relied upon for support … ,” wrote Daphna Nachminovitch, vice president of cruelty investigations for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, “rather than working dogs. It is too common for animals to be exploited and abused.”

Working dogs are often used as a substitute for innovative non-animal programs that intelligently address human needs, Nachminovitch wrote.

But Mitch assures us for London and other service dogs, it’s not all work and no play.

“London can have playtime like other dogs and cats,” Mitch said, adding that after a long day, London prefers to wind down by chasing a soccer ball.

The only tough part for London, Mitch said, is that nobody else can pet him because “he can’t be distracted from doing his job.”

This is one aspect about the man and his best friend that Mitch’s dog-loving fiancé, Heidi, had to get used to. But, as London’s tuxedo has already been purchased for their August wedding, it’s clear, Mitch said, the threesome will mesh just fine.

“To see the transformation in this young man,” his mother said, “this man has changed from someone who didn’t want to be around anyone -- despondent, depressed, isolated -- to someone who is outgoing, lives on his own and is getting married … I’m so happy for my son. He deserves a life.”

Source: http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=86179