Service dogs are amazing life partners that can help people with medical conditions to become more independent and happy. They can be trained to assist someone with pretty much any kind of disability.
If you (or a loved one) have cardiac issues, an assistance dog might be the right solution. He can notice and take care of his owner when something is wrong concerning his heart or blood pressure.
What Is A Cardiac Alert Dog?
A cardiac alert dog is conditioned to warn a person of any blood flow or heart rate change. This type of service animal can let his owner know he should take precautions such as laying down, calling for help, going somewhere safe, or even elevating his legs if necessary.
Therefore, it’s the ideal companion for people with cardiac conditions such as:
- Syncope.
- Dysautonomia/POTS.
- Tachycardia.
- Etc.
If you want to adopt or train an alert dog, there’s a lot of information you should know. At the end of your reading, you will have everything you need to find a furry assistant that might literally save your (or someone else’s) life!
What Does A Cardiac Alert Dog Do?
It’s an assistance animal with the ability (or that develops it through training) to sense and alert his handler if anything is unusual with his heart signals. Thus, people with cardiac issues could act before it’s too late with this type of service dog.
Whether it’s a drop in blood pressure or a change in heart rates, the pet will be able to warn and take care of his owner if needed
With this early notice of possible occurrence, the person with a cardiac disability will know what to do. He might have to take special medication, call someone for help, or stay calm.
To show you an example, I’ve found this video on Youtube about Marty Harris with his cardiac alert dog Adele!
How Do Cardiac Alert Dogs Know?
Many don’t understand how an assistance animal can accurately know when a change in your heart rates or blood flow occurs. Unfortunately, there’s no ultimate answer because science hasn’t yet discovered exactly how cardiac alert dogs can do this type of work.
On the other hand, some people suggest it’s due to their acute sense of smell and hearing. Otherwise, how would they notice when something is wrong in the cardiac signals of a human body.
According to this theory…
Certain assistance dogs have a nose strong enough to detect tiny chemical variations during a heart rate, blood pressure, or blood sugar change. Their ears can also perceive someone’s heartbeat to alert him if it’s not normal.
I’ve found this information on The Philadelphia Inquirer website. You can check out this article on their blog to learn even more things about cardiac alert dogs!
Cardiac Alert Dog Tasks.
Apart from warning people with a heart disability when necessary, alert dogs can also help them in several other ways. They can also be trained to take care of someone that’s about to faint or lose consciousness.
Another responsibility of a service animal could be to find help or call 9-1-1 (with a dog-friendly phone) if you ever collapsed. It’s also possible to train your furry assistant to help you with many other daily tasks.
Whether you have another disability or want your life to be simple, he can be trained to retrieve essential items, carry groceries, or do other helpful things.
Other Types Of Alert Dogs For Emergency Assistance!
While searching for more information about service dogs, I’ve found that they can warn their owner for different reasons.
Some of them have the innate ability to sense chemical changes in blood sugar, and others can predict oncoming seizures.
Thus, alert dogs aren’t only great helpmates for people with cardiac problems. Here are some other medical response dogs that can warn and help their handler with conditions before they occur!
- Diabetic Alert Dogs.
- Seizure Response Dogs.
- Psychiatric Service Dogs.
- General Medical Alert Dogs.
- Etc.
What Are The Best Cardiac Alert Dog Breeds?
Labrador Retrievers, Golden Retrievers, and German Shepherds are popular choices when it comes to service dogs. Their friendly temperament, eagerness to please, and other general traits are ideal for assistance.
According to the ADA*, any dog is allowed to be trained for service work. As long as he’s under the control of his handler, required to help a person with a disability, and conditioned to perform assistance tasks, it’s legit.
*The ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) is the civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against people with limited physical or mental conditions in multiple areas such as employment, assistance, etc. In other words, it’s the documentation that determines the rules and requirements for cardiac alert dogs.
However, the ability to sense heart-rate or blood-pressure changes is generally innate. You can’t teach any companion to detect a problem in the cardiac signals of a human body. So it’s essential to find a dog that already has this aptitude or that can learn it.
The animal personality is also an important consideration to make sure he’s suitable to assist someone with heart conditions. You should be looking for a dog calm, always ready to help, easily trainable, and can sense an issue with your heart rate or blood flow. Here are some breeds that are more likely to be well-suited for cardiac alerting!
- Labrador Retrievers. (Mostly)
- Golden Retrievers.
- Pomeranians.
- Poodles.
- Etc.
Training A Service Dog For Cardiac Alerting!
Once you’ve found a candidate that’s appropriate to help you with your heart conditions, it’s time to train him. An innate ability to sense cardiac signals changes in the human body isn’t enough to save your life.
Your potential service dog also needs to know how to alert you, act properly in public, be obedient, and perform other specific tasks if it’s necessary.
Fundamental preparation for assistance work includes socialization, basic training, and good manners. Then, you can constantly improve your dog’s obedience and social skills. Once he’s ready for more advanced training, you can start teaching him more specific tasks.
The Swab Technique To Train Your Cardiac Alert Dog!
For cardiac alert dogs, the only process I’ve found is the swab technique. To train your buddy with this method, you will need two different types of swabs.
Some of them should be soaked in the saliva of a person when he’s healthy. Others should have saliva of the person when his blood pressure drops/rises, his heartbeat is unusual, or he has any other symptom of a cardiac problem.
Then, you use those different swabs to train your medical response dog:
Make him smell each type of swab and conditionate him to alert you whenever he senses something other than the usual heart-rate or blood-flow in your body. The signal can be anything from loud barking to standing still and blocking you from moving forward.
Apart from his main responsibility, your assistance animal can also be trained for multiple other tasks. You can teach him how to find help if you pass out or even call the emergency on a dog-friendly phone.
How Much Time Does It Take To Train A Medical Response Dog?
Legally, there are no minimum training requirements for service dogs in the United States. As general guidelines, the IAADP (International Association of Assistance Dog Partners) recommends at least 120 hours of training and 30 hours spent in public places over 6 months or more.
To be realistic, conditioning a cardiac alert dog can take from 1 to 2 years depending on his learning pace, the trainer’s skills, and many other factors. Thus, most people don’t have the time, energy, and patience to do this alone.
Training him yourself is possible, but it’s not easy. I wouldn’t recommend it unless you have a lot of available time, some experience with dog training, and you’re ready to make a serious commitment. Otherwise, you should probably consider adopting a service dog that’s already trained and suitable for your needs!
How To Get A Cardiac Alert Dog That’s Already Trained?
To adopt an assistance animal, you can either find an organization or an individual that train service dogs. As long as you have heart conditions and maybe some money, you should be able to find a cardiac alert dog with some research.
If you don’t know where to start, I highly recommend you reach out to one or many of those organizations:
How Much Do Cardiac Alert Dogs Cost?
As for any other type of service dog, you either have to pay the high-price or wait on a long list to get on for cardiac alerting. They can cost anywhere from $15,000 to $30,000 for training, general care, and other fees related to adopting an assistance animal.
According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, some organizations allow people with a disability to pay only what they can afford, and they take care of the rest with donations.
Therefore, you might have to invest something between $1,000 and $5,000. It will depend on your financial means, conditions, and with which association you’re collaborating.
The main reason why it’s so expensive to adopt a service dog is because of the training fees. If you’re not able to get an assistance animal for your needs with an organization, you can always try to find and train one yourself.
However, it’s far from being as easy and simple as basic obedience training. You will have to put in a lot of time and energy to train a cardiac alert dog yourself!
Last Thoughts About Cardiac Alert Service Dogs!
Adopting or training an assistance dog for heart conditions might eventually save your life. It’s also the ultimate friend that will always be there to help you out.
Whether it by performing daily tasks or giving you emotional support when you need it. You only have to find the right resources if you want to own such a companion.
With all the information I’ve shared in my article, I’m sure you have everything you need to get and/or train a cardiac alert dog. However, you will have to invest a lot of your time, energy, and maybe some money.
Now it’s time to contact specialized organizations or do some research to find the perfect furry assistant for your needs.
Service dogs are great for helping people with special conditions enjoy life and become more independent. Whatever disability you have, I truly believe you deserve the best.
Thus, an alert dog might be the solution to do what you want regardless of your restrictions!