# Came across this article on a Seizure Alert Dog



## AbbyK9 (Oct 11, 2005)

Click the link below to read the full article.

Havoc is good to have around when you?re talking about this seizure alert dog trained at Alden?s Kennels — Grayslake news, photos and events — TribLocal.com

Below are two parts of the article that led to me posting it here, because both parts bring up some questions for me - I'm sure for others as well. 



> O’Byrne said Havoc is trained as a security dog, narcotics dog, for search and rescue, to find cadavers and in all phases of American Kennel Club utility. Scott Leisher said Havoc is trained to follow more than 200 commands.


This, to me, brings up the following questions -

--> How old is Havoc to be trained in all of these areas?
--> What are his actual trained Service Dog tasks, besides alerting?
--> Is it possible for a dog to actually be trained to do ALL of these things?



> Not only does Havoc serve the Leisher family as a service dog, he is also very protective of the family. This turned into a small problem one day that the family laughs about now.



You can read all of that section in the article, but in a nutshell, the family had a contractor working in their home. Havoc was "hanging out" with their 10 year old child (not the 14-year-old who has epilepsy and requires Havoc as his Service Dog) and the family did not know where the dog was. When they went up to look for him, they found the contractor "trapped" in the closet and the dog "staring" at him in what the contractor obviously thought was a threatening way. 



I guess the question is, is a dog that is trained as a protection dog or that is very protective of family members a good fit as a Service Dog? Or a liability?


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## RubyTuesday (Jan 20, 2008)

--->Another question. Is the contractor laughing, too?


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## elly1210 (Jan 4, 2009)

Per the ADA new laws a dog
"Note that dogs trained to provide aggressive protection (i.e., attack dogs) will *NOT *qualify as a service dog." ADA Service Dog Changes Effective on Ides of March | Dog Star Daily

I am assuming you are asking for a personal opinion. I don't believe that a dog that is trained to protect the person or his family is a good fit. A service dogs needs to be able to walk through all different crowds of people, accept different behaviors and motions of people that could look threatening to a typical dog. If the person needs medical help the medical team/person needs to be able to assist the person whether it be in their home or out in public. 

The ADA must not think it is OK either since this is a new addition to the law. I don't remember reading it in the older verizon (I could be wrong). There must have been incidents that probably caused liablity issues and it is important enough to state it in the new law.


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## ILGHAUS (Nov 25, 2002)

The ADA / DOJ never approved aggressive protection for service animals. 

The DOJ when presented with *minimal protection* questions published the following:

From the U.S. Department of Justice
Civil Rights Division
Disability Rights Section 

Americans with Disabilities Act

*ADA Business BRIEF: Service Animals*

Service animals are animals that are individually trained to perform tasks for people with disabilities such as guiding people who are blind, alerting people who are deaf, pulling wheelchairs, alerting and protecting a person who is having a seizure, or performing other special tasks. Service animals are working animals, not pets. ....

In the revised ADA it has just been clarified as people even after the publishing of the Business Brief were still taking the original wording out of context.


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## AutismDogGirl (Oct 7, 2010)

Yeah protection dog training and service dog grainy should NOT be done with the same dog! A service dog needs to be able to offer protection in a non aggressive manner ie stoping some one from walking into traffic. Not by being able to attack on command and service dogs need to be fought to tolerate behavior from humans that may look threatening like play fight. I won't condem a service dog who bites someone trying to murder, rob or rape it's handler but I defiantly would NOT train him purposely to do it. Most of the time a dog present is enough of a deter ant anyways for criminals he or she doesn't need protection training


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