USK9 is marketing K9s that are specifically trained to detect and alert to abnormal brainwave and body function activity up to 6 six hours before actual seizure experiences take place. This gives the recipient time to seek medical attention, and potentially resolve the situation before it occurs. Many of our clients actually claim that the amount and severity of their seizures have greatly diminished and in some cases resolved, since receiving and handling our K9s.
This has occurred as the result of training dogs for clients stricken with autistic developmental disabilities. Through the training process where we trained the dogs to be sensitive to the actual needs of each handler we started receiving reports detailing the affect that our K9s were having on them, especially in the area dealing with their seizures. Since the K9s I was placing were having this affect on their handlers, I seriously investigated each situation to find out what exactly was happening, and what we were doing through our training that caused this phenomenon, and found some specific details that were consistent throughout.
THE PROBLEM
I have been appalled at many of the articles where I have read how other trainers have trained dogs to alert people around them when their handlers had a seizure. This does nothing for the person suffering from this condition. The Master Trainer for the Paws with a Cause Disability Organization, a major non-profit Corporation training numerous K9s for the American Disabled Community has openly pronounced his skepticism about trainers of Seizure Alert or Detection K9s, stating that this field of endeavor is highly subjective, with inconclusive results, and inconsistent K9 performance. I have agreed based on what I have read and heard about the training of these K9s, and until my own K9s proved me wrong did not attempt to openly train dogs for this concern.
So, how do you train a dog to detect when somebody is going to have a seizure?
This is a question that has captured the world's attention. I remember asking myself that question over and over, for days, weeks, and months at a time. The answer lies in the neurological understanding of why people have seizures, and how they develop a seizure like condition. It isn't enough to teach a dog how to alert when somebody starts to have a seizure. We want to understand why and how mental disorders develop and occur. We need to understand what actually happens in the brain to cause the epileptic condition, and produce an epileptic seizure, in order to develop a comprehensive strategy with our dog training to combat and counter affect the symptoms and development of seizures in potential and active recipients that are and will be working and handling our trained seizure K9s.
For some years we had not intentionally produced Seizure Alert K9s, because of the controversy involved in the development of these dogs. Many experts were very skeptical about the ability of a dog to really be capable of alerting when someone was going to have a seizure, and until I could present a scientifically sound presentation, showing how I could produce a K9 that would consistently recognize and respond correctly to this serious concern, I did not wish to proceed and produce K9s in this field. However, as we trained dogs for people afflicted with autism, and other developmental disabilities, who were also plagued with severe seizures, we began to get thankful reports about how their seizures had lessoned, became more controllable, and sometimes stopped. After some years of investigation, further research, and confirmation, we now know that we can produce Seizure Alert K9s that will greatly help every person who handles them.
WHO ARE WE?
Besides having been The California Superior Court and Multi-County Behaviorist K9 experts for 20 years, as Multi-National and World Champion Police K9 (Schutzhund) Champions, we have become National leaders in the field of Service Assistance K9s and Guide dog training.
WHAT HAVE WE DONE?
We have done extensive research in the fields of Psychology, Biology, Physics, and Neurology for several years to gain a comprehensive understanding of how the brain and body work to receive, process, and produce behavior. Through this process we developed our strategy for training into a highly sophisticated scientifically founded program that was able to be comprehensively analyzed and structured. This way we could perfect it step by step into a perfect model for performance with the dogs we train. We used hundreds of dog/client teams and some five years of work to develop a strategic system of behavior that we used to break into, focus, modify, and pattern the subconscious natural responsiveness in the dogs we trained, and the response is phenomenal.
Through my research I inductively dissected the brain and its many parts and processes, the related glands and the Neuro/muscular system affected in the body by the brain, into an understandable comprehensive model. I then use this model to develop a working psychology, showing how the related thought process, the learning process, the decision making process, and the performance process, all working together, used to train K9s for perfect performance. Guess what, they did! Through that process, besides becoming the undisputed leaders in our field, we accomplished something that no one else before us had been able to do; to develop a model to understand the actual specific biological processes used by all animals for their minds and bodies to receive, process, and create behavior. We have used this knowledge to teach our K9s to understand and work with the severe physical and mental problems presented by the disabled community we serve.
Besides becoming recognized as world leaders for training Police & Detection K9s, and behavioral dog training worldwide, we also developed a program for training Assistance K9s that launched us into the work of training K9s for the disabled community with great success.
THE PROCESS
Being a psychologist, with Degrees from Long Beach State University, I have formulated our dog training to be therapeutic and healing. It is done in such a way as to capture, focus, and control the attention of the conscious mind of both the K9 and its handler, and at the same time program and coordinate their emotions and thought patterns, teaching them simultaneously to relax and intensify, under control.
The first step in training each K9 is to teach them to stop and relax physically, and emotionally. This prepares the K9 to focus, receive, and respond to commands in a proper mental/emotional state of mind. We call “going into training mode”. It does produce a modified state of consciousness in the mind of the K9 which makes them much more sensitive, focused, and trainable. It has greatly enhanced our training program with all dogs we train.
The strategy we use for training teaches the K9 to become sensitive to the movements, smells, and electro-magnetic energies of the handler, and at the same time teaches the handler to project and focus their thoughts and energies into the K9.
• As each recipient would learn and use the techniques I prescribed for handling their dogs, the effect of those exercises they used to maintain the training in their dog also appeared to have had the effect of stabilizing the workings of their own mind.
• By working with a K9 whose brainwave (consciousness) and consequently body responses had been altered and controlled by the conditioning they had received in order to go into what we call "training mode", the dogs actually communicated with the handlers through their controlled behavior, and helped the handlers to do the same, which has had the affect of promoting balance and stability in their brain functions.
I have now been able to use this conditioning with my K9s to work with a wide spectrum of mental/emotional disorders, disabilities, and developmental disabilities in both children and adults with tremendous success, because through the conditioning experience, what the client actually learns is how to work with and control their own mentality and body functioning. Our K9s can actually:
• Smell the difference between normal and abnormal body smells
• Feel the abnormal electro-magnetic energy changes as the brain begins to send abnormal signals which the body projects,
• See the difference between normal and abnormal muscular-neural movement,
• Hear the difference in normal and abnormal body functions (breathing, etc.),
and respond with understanding and instant clarity to what is happening with the afflicted person. To confirm our findings we contacted field experts like Doctor William Jordan, a long time friend and colleague with whom Bob Taylor has written articles for Smithsonian and National Geographic Magazines, a world leader for Animal Biological research, University Professor at several Universities throughout America, who has traveled and written numerous articles and best seller books on animal behavior, and Doctor David Kelso, a leading Medical Administrator, and the Vice President of the American Red Cross, to confirm our findings. After explaining how we able to train our K9s to be “brain wave” sensitive, Dr Kelso flew out and spent a week training seizure dogs with us. As a result he confirmed our findings and is using them in his University lectures, and stays in contact with us for further research and investigative concerns in this area of work, where we are leading the field.
Last year, along with the K9s I trained for other seizure afflicted persons, I have taken two young men who were beset with severe seizures, and had them live with me. These two men would have severe seizures two or three times a week before they came to live with me, and one of them almost died this past year from the results. Their situation was very serious. By daily teaching them how to handle seizure K9s properly, and to work with them on a daily basis; how to eat correctly, breathe correctly, and think correctly, we were able to reduce the amount and severity of their seizures about 95%. During the process we were able to actually detect those behaviors leading up to potential seizures with the help of our K9s, up to some hours before each potential occurrence, and as a result either stop or control each occurrence with great success. As a result, each of these young men has returned to their families and are now enjoying normal lives.
WHAT WERE THE RESULTS?
We took our diversified experience, coupled it with our knowledge and ability to create behaviors in dogs, and used it to make each K9 we place extremely sensitive, alert, and function able for a variety uses as the same time. Our recipients love them! As we did so, and our recipients called us with unbelievable reports of success with their dogs and we realized we had the ability to do things others had never done. For instance, our trained K9s are “brainwave” sensitive and can detect normal and abnormal states of brain and body activity with 100% accuracy, as proven over the past 5 years of field documented experience. Our Seizure Alert K9 program has become a tremendous success.
In 2006, dogs we trained were honored by the:
Delta Society - Therapy dog of the Year for 2006
American Red Cross - Search & Rescue K9 of the Year
F.E.M.A – Top Detection K9 for 2006
We have also been recognized by the Journal of Longevity as their "Humanitarian of the Year" for our work with the Disabled Community in America.
We believe that our training is a life and death concern for both the dogs we train, and their owners and potential handlers. We deal with increasing the quality of life for everyone we come in contact with. We know that if we don't do the job, the consequences will be devastating. We also believe that working with persons afflicted with disabilities in our #1 concern, as this community has the greatest need for trained K9s who can help them cope with and live with a better quality of life. This is especially true for those afflicted with seizures, and like conditions.
For more information:
Please call us directly at 866-875-9364 or 760 965-6663.
Thank You.
Bob Taylor, President
The UNITED STATES Canine Academy International, Inc.
The DOWGISH FOUNDATION, Inc
