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Cavalier as an alert dog

Christin1994

Active member
Good morning everyone! I know it's been a while since my last post but I hope everyone and their fur children are well. For the last 6 months, I've been suffering from terrible migraines as a result of my hydrocephalus *surprise!!*. I wanted to ask you all an interesting question. Can a cavalier successfully perform the tasks of a service dog (specifically migraine alert). I'm wondering could a cavalier be taught to grab water and medicine along with alerting to migraines, or would I be asking the impossible? Have any of you known of a small dog to do this? Thank you in advance guys!! I appreciate any of the replies.
~Christin
 
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Hi Christin

Don't know much about service dogs, though we certainly use a lot of small dogs for this work in the UK, but having obedience trained a number of Cavaliers I don't see why they shouldn't be able to do what you need. In my experience, they are quick learners and love being trained (I know they have a reputation among non-Cavalier-owners for being stupid, but that's if their owners let them get away with it!). Perhaps keep your meds and a bottle of water in a small bag or box always ready for a dog to pick up and bring to you? So even if the dog can't forewarn you of a migraine coming, if you just manage the word 'box' when it hits he would be able to bring it to you. Though given a Cavalier's strong scenting abilities (nose to the ground all the time!), I would think they could be trained to alert you to a migraine coming - I just don't know how it's done! We have an organisation in the UK called Medical Detection Dogs; a friend supports it because her Cavalier alerted people when she became unconscious and so saved her life; I expect there is something similar in the US that could advise you about training your Cavalier.

Kate and Ruby
 
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