Service dogs trained to help humans with seizures can be essential, as these pups provide alerts, comfort, and companionship during episodes of seizures and disorientation. In general, service dogs trained to help with seizures can be quite expensive, but it is possible to get a free service dog for seizures, or to find local and national scholarships or grants that help you offset the cost of a fully trained service dog for seizures.
Below, we give you an overview of how service dogs help with seizures, in addition to details on how to get a free service dog for seizures.
How Does a Service Dog Help With Seizures?
A service dog can help with seizures by providing alerts to their human; these dogs are trained to sense the onset of a seizure, and they will indicate to their human through a specific signal that they need to lie down or otherwise get to a safe location.
Service dogs for seizures can also be trained to retrieve medication and remind their owners to take the medication, lie down and offer themselves as a pillow or soft place for their human’s head, and retrieve help. These dogs may also provide guidance, grounding support, and retrieve items like phones for their humans.
How Do You Get a Service Dog?
Typically, you get a service dog by purchasing one of these fully trained pups from a local or national organization that specializes in training service dogs for seizures. These dogs are usually of a specific breed, such as a golden retriever or poodle, and they undergo training for a couple of years before they are ready to be adopted by a human in need.
On average, fully trained service dogs for seizures are about $25,000 to $50,000 up front cost, and insurance rarely covers the cost of adopting a trained service dog.
How to Get a Free Service Dog for Seizures
If you are interested in a service dog for seizures but are overwhelmed by the cost, that’s totally understandable. These pups go through lots of training, and the resulting adoption cost can be quite high because of this. However, it is possible to get a free service dog for seizures.
You can look up local and national organizations that work to place service dogs with families and humans in need at free or low cost. One example is the Chelsea Hutchinson Foundation, though there are plenty more that aim to ensure these highly skilled dogs find suitable homes.
You can also take the time to fundraise locally or work with local charities to see if there are any grants available to help you adopt your service dog for seizures.
Can I Train My Own Service Dog for Seizures?
It may be possible to train your own service dog in some cases, like if you are training a psychiatric service dog to help with anxiety or another mental health condition, but it is difficult to train your own seizure alert dog.
In general, this type of training is difficult, and you may not have the tools required to fully train your dog to detect seizures and perform the other tasks needed to help you recover and ground yourself after a seizure. So, it is possible, but not without a lot of work, and, likely, the assistance of a professional dog trainer.
How to Get a Free Service Dog for Seizures: Securing Assistance
Service dogs for seizures are incredibly helpful companions, and these dogs can completely change how someone might feel when going about their daily life. Not only can a service dog trained to help with seizures provide alerts that help their human prepare for a seizure, but they can also retrieve items, ensure their owner is safe, and find help as needed.
While these dogs can be expensive to adopt, it is completely possible to get a free service dog for seizures when you work with the right organizations, grants, and foundations.