Seizure-Response Dogs for those with Epilepsy

Meet Eli and Cisco - one of The Chelsea Hutchison Foundation's most recent service dog teams. We featured them in our last update, but thought you'd be interested in knowing how this all came to be. To date, CHF has provided 124 grants for fully-trained seizure-response service dogs.

Cisco, a Golden Retriever, was born into the trainer's breeding program. His parents were selected for their exceptional health and temperament screenings. Many successful service dogs were born to these same parents.

As a young pup, through the first 8 weeks of his life, Cisco was an even-tempered dog. He played well with his siblings, he was investigative, and used all of his senses as they became fully developed. He was not startled by loud noises or frightened by various stimuli. He enjoyed being handled, and preferred being with people moreso than playing with his siblings. These are just some of the things we look for in very young pups that make good service dog candidates.

At 8 weeks of age, Cisco went to the Nebraska Women’s Correctional Center in York. There, he was potty trained, and started in obedience by nurturing female handlers. At 16 weeks, Cisco went to a volunteer puppy raiser home, where he continued learning obedience, in additional to house manners.

Once he achieved a specific level of obedience, his puppy raiser was allowed to take him into public places to start his community integration training. His puppy raiser took him to restaurants, movie theatres, grocery stores, shopping centers, etc. to get him used to the sights, sounds and smells of city life.

At a year of age, Cisco’s puppy raiser returned him to the trainer, where he received health screenings to ensure his heart, eyes, hips and elbows were sound enough to provide service work. Once he passed his health certifications, Cisco entered a men’s prison, Lincoln Correctional Center, where he was paired with an inmate trainer for a year.

During that time, the inmate trainer solidified Cisco’s obedience, and then started working on service dog tasks such as opening doors, turning on lights, retrieving items such as his medicine, getting water from a refrigerator, taking off shoes, etc. These tasks are basic service dog tasks that we train all of our dogs to do. 

Volunteers that we call Weekend Warriors take a dog one weekend a month from the prison to continue the dog’s community integration training since many environments are not easily duplicated in a prison environment. Even simple things like walking on a sidewalk down a busy street with cars going by can be scary for a dog that has not been acclimated to those sights, sounds and movements.

The final stage of Cisco’s training in the prison during the week includes specific tasks related to the person he is to be placed with… a young man with Epilepsy. Cisco was taught to roll his person on his side during (and hold that position after) a seizure. This helps keep the person from choking on saliva during a seizure.

Once a seizure occurs, Cisco was trained to ‘Ring the Bell’ which is like an indoor doorbell. This alerts parents to know there is a medical crisis, and their child needs assistance.

Cisco was also taught a command called ‘Nudge.’ Should Eli fall face forward, or end up in that position, during a seizure, Cisco strategically pushes his nose under his face to move their head to the side to help them breathe.

Cisco also provides balance and mobility support, as people with Epilepsy may be weak after a seizure. If Ely needs to move to a chair or bed to continue resting, Cisco, will be their support as they make the steps to the resting place.

Eli and his family traveled to ‘camp’ or ‘team training.’ 12 days of learning, and a little fun too. The first few days included mostly classroom time learning the names of commands, what they meant, and how/when to use them. Then Eli started to practice those commands in public places when the teams go on outings.

Once he was able to manage his dog on his own, and commits to practicing every day, they attend a formal graduation before heading back home. The inmate handler gets to say his last goodbye to the dog he’s committed the last year to training. In a symbolic gesture, the handler formally turns over the leash to Eli, so they may start their new journey together. This is where Cisco shines as he and Eli have become a great team, where one is not fully complete without the other.

We thank you for your continued support of this program!