To any of you that happen to be perusing this blog tonight, I wish you a very Merry Christmas.
Christa and I are relaxing on the couch with our dog, Otto, and enjoying the evening watching a twelve hour "marathon" of Law and Order. I have managed to go the whole day today without having noticable seizure activity. Nor has Otto seemed to notice any seizure activity (not that he has before). Some dogs are able to detect this!!! In fact, some trainers claim to be able to train dogs to do this, although all respectable sources indicate that it is not a trainable skill, but a trait which some dogs posses from birth. Currently researchers have not determined how a dog might do this. Some of the scientists suspect a smell, as dogs have a far better sense of smell than humans.
As for whether one might consider spending thousands on a dog trained to recognize seizures you may want to wait for more scientific evidence rather than anecdotal evidence. Dogs can still play a valuable part in helping their masters during a seizure event. Most of them will protect their master if they are unable to respond and notify others of the situation. Even my little sixteen pound westie will hardly let anyone near me the few times I have had a grand mal seizure when around him.
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