With our M.B.F. Trustee, V.W.Bro. Ian Wolstencroft, P.G.J.O. and his wife Christine, I visited the Support Dogs charity in Sheffield. This is an organisation that provides specially trained dogs to support those with autism, those with epilepsy and those needing some extra support in their lives.
They are currently developing a leading National Training and Development Centre for dogs and their trainers. In the photos you can see the beginning of the training arena where dogs and trainers will work together. Their main focus is further developing their epilepsy dog program. A fully trained Support Dog can alert its ‘human’ to a seizure well in advance of the event. Whilst people generally think that a seizure happens quickly, Support Dogs can give notice of anywhere between 29 and 55 minutes. These amazing dogs give the sufferer plenty of time to adjust and to find a safe place before the seizure happens.
