Do dogs know more than humans?
The dogs trained at the Milton, Ga. non-profit, Canine Assistants, who will perform on Saturday at the culmination of the Atlanta Science Festival, help with many of the tasks that other service dogs handle — opening doors, switching on lights, retrieving dropped objects.
But the organization’s homepage says that some of their animals have the ability to predict seizures up to 40 minutes before they occur, and can help epilepsy patients and their families prepare for such events, and respond to them when they happen.
The dogs from Canine Assistants will be on display at the science festival's Exploration Expo, an all-day series of hands-on activities and shows, taking place Saturday at Centennial Olympic Park. It's the final event of the week-long festival, a public celebration of local science and technology.
Jennifer Arnold, founder of Canine Assistants, will be the park, along with some of her four-legged friends. Her organization trains dogs that were born and raised at the Milton facility, working mostly with retrievers and Labradors, but has also trained rescue dogs from other sources.
UCB, a biopharma company with offices in Atlanta, has sponsored 367 Canine Assistants seizure response dogs since 2003, and is bringing the organization to the Expo to showcase its work.
You can see video of the dogs and some of the recipients here.
