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American Morning
In Florida, Allowing Public Access to Specially Trained Seizure-Alert Dogs May Soon be Law
Aired April 04, 2002 - 07:48 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: It's not unusual to see signs in public places that read, "No dogs allowed." But in Florida, allowing public access to specially-trained seizure-alert dogs may soon be the law. Governor Jeb Bush expected to sign a bill passed by the legislature that will grant these medical dogs the same status as guide dogs for the blind.
Connie Stanley (ph) is someone who would benefit from the signing of that law. She is subject to epileptic seizures as a result of a head trauma she suffered a number of years ago. And she says her two dogs, Alexandria and Nathan, can actually anticipate those seizures 8 to 10 minutes before they happen. She says she needs the dogs with her at all times in order to maintain her quality of life.
Connie joins us this morning from Orlando, Florida, along with her two canine companions, Alexandria and Nathan, and joining us from Tallahassee, state Senator Anna Cowan, who is the chief sponsor of the proposed new law. I'm sorry, it's Cowan -- pardon me.
Nice to have you have, Senator. Tell us what this law briefly will do for people like Connie.
ANNA COWAN, FLORIDA STATE SENATOR: It allows Connie and people like Connie to bring their dogs into public places, into restaurants, into bathrooms, into any public place, so that they can alert their owner if there is a seizure that comes on.
CAFFERTY: Where has society been on this? Obviously, seizures are nothing new. These dogs are necessary, as we mentioned, to the quality of life for people like Connie. Why hasn't society been more accepting of this type of dog as opposed to guide dogs, for example, for the blind?
COWAN: Well, I think people are more aware of dogs for the blind or dogs for the deaf, but people who have seizures looks to everybody like the average person down the street and don't look like they have a handicap. The seizure-alert dogs are marked, so that they are guide dogs, but people don't recognize that they are permitted by law, and this is what this will do. The law only is stated for dogs for the blind and the deaf, so we included all dogs, including the seizure- alert dogs.
CAFFERTY: All right. Connie, we've got some video on the screen here in New York for our viewers showing you, it looks like in the kitchen in your home with one of the dogs. Tell me a little about what they do for you.
CONNIE STANLEY, SUFFERS SEIZURES: When I am getting ready to have a seizure, Alex will especially -- she is very quiet, and she pushes me and pulls my clothes, and she gets me into a position that's comfortable. And then she puts her head on top of me, and she pins me down. If I am going to have a grand mal, and it's a severe grand mal, which is the kind that makes your whole body shake, she actually puts her entire body over the top of me, and she pins me down until it's over. And...
CAFFERTY: That's amazing. Now, is this something you train the dogs to do? Or do they just...
STANLEY: Absolutely not.
CAFFERTY: Now, how do...
STANLEY: Absolutely not.
CAFFERTY: I mean, how do they know before -- do they know it before you know that one of these seizures is coming?
STANLEY: Oh, yes. I have no recollection that it's coming, and the only way that I can explain it is that it is a definite gift that God puts inside each dog. It's a true miracle, because you...
CAFFERTY: What is the breed?
STANLEY: This is a Bouvier des Flandres from Belgium, but I want to make it very clear to people that it's not this particular breed, because even cats can do this -- even cats. And cats are alerting their owners that they are getting ready to have seizures. And it's not this particular breed. Mutts are doing it, even cats, and different people are coming up to me and telling me that there are different dogs, and their animals are alerting them about their seizures.
CAFFERTY: Now, the video we are showing, it just showed you dropped something on the floor, the dog goes over, picks it up, gives it back to you. The dog will go and get the bottle of medicine off the table...
STANLEY: Right.
CAFFERTY: ... if they sense that you are in trouble.
STANLEY: Right. Now, I have trained her to do all of her medical work.
CAFFERTY: Right. But the sensing of the seizure, that's as you say a gift. Nobody can really explain how they know, but they know.
STANLEY: Exactly. CAFFERTY: Now, we also have some footage, I think -- it's not all work and no play. And being a dog owner myself, I understand that they do get silly at times, which is often the best time of the day. And we've got a picture of one of them with a bucket on its head out in the yard.
STANLEY: That's Nathan, that's Nathan. Yes.
CAFFERTY: Nathan likes to...
STANLEY: Nathan is...
CAFFERTY: ... very attracted to that bucket?
STANLEY: Nathan is my Dennis the Menace. Nation is my Dennis the Menace. Yes.
CAFFERTY: Absolutely loves the bucket.
STANLEY: Yes, that's my Dennis the Menace.
CAFFERTY: And this is a dog that is able to detect the onset of a petit mal or grand mal seizure, who in his off hours runs around the yard with his head in a bucket.
STANLEY: Right, right.
CAFFERTY: It's pretty amazing stuff.
STANLEY: And he, on the other hand, is very vocal, when he alerts me to a seizure. Alex is very quiet, Nathan is very vocal. He will bark.
CAFFERTY: Well, you are blessed to have the two of them, and it's just to me a fascinating phenomenon how they have the instinct to detect these things before they happen. Congratulations on successfully pushing for this piece of legislation that will make your life easier and people who are in a similar situation as yours.
STANLEY: Thank you.
CAFFERTY: And thank you for being with us this morning. We've been talking to Connie Stanley...
STANLEY: Thank you.
CAFFERTY: ... with her dogs, Alexandria and Nathan. Nathan is the black one, who wears the bucket on his head. And Alexandria...
STANLEY: No, he is the gray one.
CAFFERTY: Oh, the gray one? All right, I'm sorry.
STANLEY: Right. That's OK.
CAFFERTY: Nathan is the more reserved one. And Senator Anna Cowan, who is the Florida state senator who pushed hard to get this bill passed, and it looks like Governor Jeb Bush is going to sign it -- thank you both for being with us.
STANLEY: Thanks.
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