Medical Alert | Everything Sven

Medical Alert Dogs

Description: With specialized training, dog alerts the handler to a perceived medical situation.

Alert dogs are trained to pick up on subtle body or chemical changes that a sufferer develops during the phase preceding the medical incident.

An alert dog is highly trained and perceives changes in both physical and psychological behaviors that precede a medical incident in their handler. Dogs are able to identify the initial onset or phase, which often begins a medical incident.

The dog is then able to warn you so you can take yourself out of the situation or seek preventative treatment.

Dogs trained to alert you when a medical incident is coming may indicate by:

Sit & Stare intently at their Handler
Pawing at their Handler in a designated way (or in the case of a small dog, Jump up on you)
Refuse to Leave your side
Nudge or Lick their Handler (e.g. fainting)
Whine or Bark
Walk around their Handler in a Circle
Use of a Bringsel
Bring their Handler a designated item. (e.g. medication, phone, pills)
Or employ other designated or trained behaviors.

Disabilities that may benefit or be mitigated:

Guide work, navigating around moving and stationary obstacles, potholes, low-hanging obstacles
Employing “intelligent disobedience” or refusing a command to go forward in a potentially dangerous situation (e.g. oncoming traffic, sudden drop-off, etc.)
Indicate changes in the environment such as curbs, steps, edges, barriers, etc.
Find certain key locations such as entrances, exits, elevators, an empty seat, bench, or a specified area or destination (e.g. hotel room), etc.

Stand over and Protect you if you Fall or are Incapacitate, Prevent you from Falling or Sliding out of a Chair. (e.g. seizures, vertigo, fainting)
Checking an Area for the Presence of People, follow a designated person (e.g. EMS, hostess, family member, etc.)
Retrieval of a Named or Indicated Item, (e.g. phone, pills, beverage, insulin, epi-pen).
Balance or Counterbalance Assistance
Bracing or Momentum Pull
Opening/Closing Doors
Call 911 (via K-9 rescue phone)