Should FCPS Allow Epilepsy Service Dog in Alexandria School?

[cszostak]

What about children with dog allergies? If this boy is having a seizure, what exactly can be done other than putting him on his side and waiting for it to end? Once you know what a seizure in a child looks like the staff will be aware. The dog can't call an ambulance, move the child, or give medications so keep it at home. Having been attacked by a German Shepard (unleashed) in a public park last year I am not a fan of the breed. I have a sister that was also attacked by a GS as a child.

[CaliTerp07]

Originally Posted by cszostak

What about children with dog allergies? If this boy is having a seizure, what exactly can be done other than putting him on his side and waiting for it to end? Once you know what a seizure in a child looks like the staff will be aware. The dog can't call an ambulance, move the child, or give medications so keep it at home. Having been attacked by a German Shepard (unleashed) in a public park last year I am not a fan of the breed. I have a sister that was also attacked by a GS as a child.

And I have sister who was bitten by a golden retriever as a child. That doesn't make all goldens dangerous. Especially not ones trained as service dogs.

In thinking this through more, I really think the dog should require a full time handler. I understand that the dog alerts to seizures (and read somewhere this allows for some sort of magnet to be triggered for the child a bit sooner), but a child really doesn't have the capability to handle schoolwork and a dog and friends all concurrently. Most service dog agencies will not place with children, because kids can't handle it all. No matter how well the dog was trained, it's still going to need help learning to work in new environments, proofing commands, learning to work for a new handler, etc. It's not a machine that will be fool proof for the child.

If the dog gets sick and throws up in the middle of the classroom, is the child going to be able to clean that up? If the dog gets IBS and has to be walked 5 times a day, is the child going to pick up after it? (Should the child even have to deal with these distractions while he's supposed to be learning?)

In an ideal world, the dog would be there to detect the seizures early, but there would be a responsible adult around to handle the dog otherwise. Mom or dad being a 2 week liaison isn't near long enough to transition a dog to a boy.

[Tulkas]

If this boy is having a seizure, what exactly can be done other than putting him on his side and waiting for it to end? Once you know what a seizure in a child looks like the staff will be aware.

The dog can signal BEFORE the seizure hits or is detectable by humans. The dogs can also be trained to signal the epileptic to get to a safe place. With some epileptics you can avoid the seizure if you know it is coming, for example by laying down for a nap.

[Tulkas]

If the dog gets sick and throws up in the middle of the classroom, is the child going to be able to clean that up? If the dog gets IBS and has to be walked 5 times a day, is the child going to pick up after it?

In all seriousness how often will these things happen? If the dog got IBS it would not be an appropriate service dog, I haven't heard of a lot of service animals getting IBS. Also how many times a year does a healthy dog hurl? As for dog allergies it is an issue that needs to be watched and managed but not by total exclusion of the dog.

[CaliTerp07]

Originally Posted by Tulkas

In all seriousness how often will these things happen? If the dog got IBS it would not be an appropriate service dog, I haven't heard of a lot of service animals getting IBS. Also how many times a year does a healthy dog hurl? As for dog allergies it is an issue that needs to be watched and managed but not by total exclusion of the dog.

I only bring it up because my good friend in college was (is) blind and had guide dogs the whole time I knew her. She went through a golden, a shepherd, and a lab in a 6 year time period. The golden could not support her weight anymore (he was old and she had mobility problems in addition to the blindness, so he was retired). The shepherd was sick constantly. Stress related IBS meant that she often had to clean up after it. She retired her because she couldn't deal with cleaning up after her all the time. And the lab eats all kinds of crap and throws up often...but at least that's not every day.

(My perfectly healthy mutt throws up on average 3-4x/month from eating too quickly, drinking puddle water, finding trash, eating too much, etc. It happens. She's obviously not as well trained as a guide dog, of course.)

I think the dog is a great idea--but I just think the child needs a full time handler to help with the dog for more than 2 weeks. It takes MONTHS if not a year to get an adult with full mental functionality comfortable working with their service dog. To expect a child with mental disabilities to handle a dog in a matter of a couple weeks is asking too much, imo.

[Alicia Bradley]

Yes.

[Tulkas]

A little off topic but

My perfectly healthy mutt throws up on average 3-4x/month from eating too quickly

Look at a buster cube, really helps for the eating too fast. Our old pup was that way.