[sinanju]

"...Following general training, seizure response dogs are trained to perform one of the following behaviors, depending on the recipient's need: remain next to the person during the course of a seizure, summon help in a controlled environment, or retrieve a phone prior to the seizure when indicated by the recipient. Certain dogs may even develop the ability to predict and react in advance to an oncoming seizure once they are placed with their recipient."

Interesting, so it looks like it's a total catch-as-catch-can as to whether or not the dog in question is able to smell a seizure coming on. It looks like that's something that cannot be trained or tested for beforehand.

[Smokin' Joe]

With a sense of smell some 5000 times as acute as a human’s they may be able to pick up subtle changes in body chemistry which herald an oncoming siezure. It is indeed interesting.

[Salamander]

All animals are sensitive to electrical fluctuations.

A seizure is a *huge* electrical fluctuation.

IMO, seizure dogs are reacting to subtle changes in the person’s electrical fields.

[greyhoundlady]

I’m a little late coming to the thread but I wanted to say we have a greyhound who was a seizure-alert dog for one of our other greyhounds. She didn’t need training for it; she just knew when one was going to happen. She got our attention so we could help him by running around and acting agitated. Her story, Rita, The Reluctant Heroine, is actually online. That’s my girl!