What do you think of this? Supposedly the only dog trained to do this
I'm sure there are other clever pups who can do the same. I wondered from the video, and perhaps some of you can answer: is it really that easy to wake someone with narcolepsy? Or is there some misrepresentation in the video?
I wondered the same thing! And if she’s at home what’s so bad about letting her get a few minutes of z’s??? If I’m allowed to sleep a bit I feel better for a couple of hours, I’d be disappointed if I were woke up!
Good points, arowland. There is always something a bit phony or contrived about media representations of rare diseases, but being represented in the media can have its good points, as well.
Maybe she gets no warning. Arowland, I need to sleep too. I get sufficient warning, so naps work. I also wonder what they do when she needs rest. Cute dog.
Being relatively new to the group I hadn’t seen this which Mary posted a year ago
She said the only dog in Europe . There is one New York that I know off. In Quebec Canada They train them . My Dr gave me an article on this dog. I have been asked if I wanted, not yet but someday perhaps. The dog in New York is a black lab
Aren’t they wonderful these dogs. They really are ‘man’s best friend’. Dogs have been trained to see the signs that someone with epilepsy is going to have a seizure and will guide them to a safe place.
Do you think it would be possible, and desirable, to train a dog to spot when someone is about to fall into a sleep in an inappropriate place, like in a car, driving?
I have been searching for the past few weeks for more information on this approach. I am a K9 handler for my local Search & Rescue unit here in Ammon/ Idaho Falls, Idaho. I have been training dogs for about 4 years now. I have been thinking about retraining my dog to assist me during these moments, however I am not sure if the dog can detect when I am going to have one. It would be difficult to find a distinct identifying marker that is present every single time I have an episode, to use when training the dog to help it detect an upcoming episode. From what I have started on is having my dog help me make sure I am in a safe area and to lay with me when I do fall asleep. I am working on the "giving kisses" command to help wake me up but the problem is, if I go out for a narc nap, I have to let it happen till it s done. If I try to move or do anything during one, then once I am settled, I go right back into it or it leaves me feeling groggy and exhausted the rest of the day. I would love to do more research on this subject and continue working with my dog because he also makes a great companion dog as well as a search dog. You never want to over train a dog to do something but since I will be using him for SAR anyways, I might as well be safe about it right?!?
Overall my opinion is that dogs are capable doing many miraculous things and this is a viable opportunity to further research and study the ability to help identify an impeding sleep attack. In this video, the dog shows that is simply trained to try and wake her by licking her face. there is nothing to show it has detected that she was going to have one. 
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