Dogs on Duty

By Ing Wong-Ward

When Sue Hoffman was first diagnosed with epilepsy, she was afraid to leave her home. Hoffman, a married mother of two, was having several seizures a day. Finding peace of mind was difficult. That is, until she got Seiko.

Seiko, a standard poodle, became Hoffman’s companion. A trained service dog, he’s spent close to a decade assisting Hoffman when she has a seizure. (We first introduced Abilities readers to Seiko four years ago in our Summer 1996 issue.)

If Hoffman has a severe seizure, Seiko will hit a buzzer in the home, reachable by paw, to alert medical support. Having Seiko has made a big difference in Hoffman’s quality of life.

"Seiko’s trained to watch over me," she says.

Reacting to a seizure isn’t Seiko’s only responsibility. Hoffman says Seiko can tell when Hoffman may have a seizure. During one outing, Seiko stopped and refused to move. Despite Hoffman’s attempts to move Seiko, the dog refused to budge. Hoffman says she couldn’t figure out what was going on. That is, until she had a seizure 30 minutes later. As she discovered, Seiko was able to sense Hoffman’s seizure. Dogs, says Hoffman, are more attuned than humans to certain muscular reactions. Before she has a seizure, her muscles contract in a way invisible to herself and other people. But not to Seiko. Hoffman says knowing that Seiko can warn her of seizures means not worrying that she’ll wind up having a seizure in a dangerous place.

Seiko has also changed her life in other ways.

Hoffman says her first couple of years living with seizures were lonely ones. People she used to spend time with avoided her, afraid she might have a seizure in front of them. She was also afraid to leave her home on her own. At one point, she says, her husband was calling her 10 to 12 times a day to see if she was okay. All that changed with the arrival of Seiko.

The idea to obtain a service dog was a bit of kismet. Hoffman and her husband had to give up their family dog to an adult-only home. They wanted to get another puppy, but Hoffman was worried that she wouldn’t be able to take one out for walks. She worried that if she had a seizure, the dog might run away from her. So she started looking for a training school that could help her.

As it turned out, by chance she called Jac Harbour, the founder of Hearing Dogs of Canada. Hoffman had seen an ad in her area and figured she’d find out what advice she could get. Hoffman says Harbour asked a few questions and they recommended she look at obtaining a service dog. It was an idea she hadn’t considered.

Like many people with disabilities, Hoffman assumed a service dog was an option available to someone else. While the public has gotten used to the idea that people who are blind can be helped by guide dogs, the idea that dogs benefit people with varying disabilities is still new. The truth is, a number of people with disabilities don’t realize they could benefit from the assistance of a service animal.

Now that Seiko’s become a big part of Hoffman’s life, she says she’s become more confident. People who previously avoided her now invite her to social gatherings, often extending an invitation to Seiko. The dog, she says, provides her with a new level of security. She noticed a big change one day when her husband called to say he was coming home from work. They both realized it was the first call of the day. Gradually, Seiko had helped provide comfort to both of them.

Given her own success, Hoffman now works with Key Companion Services, a company that provides service dogs to people with a wide range of disabilities. Based in Waterloo, Ontario, the company acquires and trains dogs that work with people across Canada.

Training a dog is not a simple task. Hoffman says a dog is first acquired from a known breeder. The dog starts his or her training at the age of eight weeks. Training is specifically tailored to meet the needs of a person with a disability. A person who is deaf may need a dog to pick up noises for them. That could be anything from a fire alarm to a baby crying. In that particular case, a smaller dog may be the most appropriate animal. In other cases, a wheelchair user may need a strong dog to assist with household tasks. Finding the right mix can be tricky. Not only
must the dog be able to assist the individual, but the two must also "click."

"Approximately 90 per cent of matches work," says Todd Kier. He’s a trainer with the Burnaby-based PADS (Pacific Assistance Dogs Society), a service dog training facility in British Columbia. As Kier points out, training is rigourous and goes on for about a year. While the dog is being trained, he or she is cared for by a foster family. Once in the hands of his or her owner, the relationship is closely monitored, says Kier. If the match doesn’t work out, a new home has to be found for the dog. But in most cases, everyone, including the dog, wins.

A service dog isn’t the right choice for everyone. First of all, there’s the obvious. A person interested in having this kind of support has to like dogs. Secondly, while the dog assists an individual, it’s important to remember that he or she is a living being too. And, like any creature, the dog needs to be properly cared for. Hoffman says there are some people with severe physical limitations who believe they can’t have a service dog for that reason. But attendants or other family members can help.

Then, there is one of the most serious considerations -- cost. Kier of PADS says it costs $300 to $400 a year to care for a service dog. Food costs a certain amount, but then there are regular checkups at the vet. All this can add up for someone with a fixed income. That’s why, when people apply to PADS, they have to meet application guidelines, including being able to provide for an animal. Kier says it’s also important that potential owners learn how to discipline a dog.

"If they don’t learn, there’s the possibility that the dog could chase a squirrel. That could mean pulling an owner out of his or her wheelchair," says Kier.

Then again, the dog and owner may become best friends. Sue Hoffman says Seiko is a part of her family. When she isn’t working, Seiko becomes a family pet.

"She knows, when the harness comes off, she’s a pet poodle."

Hoffman, who often introduces school children to Seiko, compares the relationship to that of a police officer and his or her uniform. When the uniform comes off, the officer is a civilian. When the uniform is on, he or she is on duty. Hoffman says it’s not much different for Seiko.

While Hoffman’s relationship with her dog is a norm among people with service dogs, other individuals have come up with more unique strategies for assistance.

Bo Bubnick is an amputee who uses a manual wheelchair. He owns two huskies, Misha and Nanook. And on many a day, Bubnick can be seen around Toronto, wheeled by the two dogs. He hooks them up to his chair using a special harness. Then, they’re off. Bubnick says they’re all-weather travellers. The dogs prefer to be out in the cold -- their natural environment. They also like to trek a long way. Bubnick says an average stretch will take him from his home in west Toronto across town into the heart of the city. That’s a long walk for anyone, but
Bubnick says it’s a great way for him to get out. As a result, he says, he’s more active. Without the dogs, he says he’d be in his home a lot more.

Bubnick and his huskies have attracted a lot of attention. He says the National Post has done a write-up on the three of them. And most passers-by are intrigued by the sight. He’s only had one negative comment. A woman stopped him on the street and accused him of being cruel. His argument? The huskies are built for hauling sleds for long distances, and pulling a wheelchair is no different. She told him he would wind up in hell.

That one incident hasn’t dissuaded Bubnick. Instead, Misha and Nanook will be taking him for regular walks.

Seiko, on the other hand, will soon retire. After 10 years of service and living through her own health issues, Seiko will become a full-time family pet. Hoffman has already been training a new standard poodle, Cherokee.

While Seiko is earning a well-deserved retirement, Hoffman expects Cherokee and she will find a similarly close bond. Both of them have discovered that an age-old relationship between human and animal takes on a whole new meaning as a person with a disability comes to rely on "man’s best friend."

(Ing Wong-Ward is a producer for CBC Television in Toronto.)


KUDOS TO KIWI!

Lisa Grey, who lives in Penetanguishine, Ontario, has multiple sclerosis and credits her service dog Kiwi for recently saving her life.

It happened in June when Lisa opened a bottle of drain cleaner to unclog the sink -- she no longer has the strength to use a plunger. She immediately had an allergic reaction to the fumes and began to experience violent seizures. Lisa fell from her power wheelchair onto the floor, spilling the drain cleaner on her legs, and continued to seize as she lay in a pool of the caustic liquid.

After trying unsuccessfully to bring help by opening the apartment door and barking up and down the halls, canine Kiwi brought the telephone over to Lisa, who managed to call 911.

Kiwi, standing in the puddle of drain cleaner, refused Lisa’s orders to leave the room where she would be safer. Instead, she struggled to pull Lisa away from the spill by her nightgown. Lisa doesn’t remember all the events and still wonders where Kiwi got the strength to move her nine feet. "I’m not a small woman," she says.

Lisa began to asphyxiate in the ambulance and had to be tubed. Yet it was only later, in hospital -- where staff looked after Kiwi’s severely burned paws as well as treating Lisa -- that she learned she probably would have died of asphyxiation before the paramedics got to her apartment, if it weren’t for Kiwi dragging her away from the chemical. Staff and patients from all over the hospital came to meet the hero dog.

Lisa says, "Kiwi was there to save my bacon... I knew she was special, but I was sure glad others recognized it also."

She adds that this was not the first time Kiwi rescued her from a life-threatening situation. Just before Christmas last year, Lisa fell and sustained a head injury, losing consciousness. "When they came to get me," she says, "Kiwi was lying on top of me, keeping me warm."

On more routine days, Kiwi helps Lisa with tasks such as taking items out of the refrigerator or doing laundry.

Lisa is so devoted to Kiwi that she has created a home page for her (http://kiwimom.homestead.com/kiwihome.html). She has set up
the Kiwi Foundation to raise funds for service dogs and educate school kids about disability (call (705) 549-7773 for more information).

Although Kiwi no longer performs active work because of health problems, she remains in Lisa’s home (where "she has already staked out her place in the bed, on my husband’s pillow right beside my head"). Eleven-week-old Java has now joined the household, and Lisa is geared up for "the next chapter of my service dog team life."

-- LISA BENDALL