London: A 23-year-old epileptic woman in Ireland has made an amazing film about her dog saving her life in the nick of time. Shannon Locke, from County Down in Northern Ireland, set up her camera phone when her seizure dog Poppy detected she was having a fit.
What followed was incredible footage of how the two-year -old labrador leapt into action, first warning her of the seizure then licking excessive saliva off her face as she goes through her fit. Shannon filmed her best pal in action last week, with the clip viewed more than three million times to date.
Seizure dogs are specially-trained to sense fits to ensure owners can make themselves safe. Then, when the fit begins, they lick excess saliva off the face to stop choking.
Shannon posted the video to Facebook because she wanted the world to see how amazing her dog was and how Poppy was trained to save her life.
She said: ‘My gorgeous seizure alert dog Poppy alerted me to this 15 minutes before, which gave me time to set the camera up. Poppy is amazing and not only does she alert me but she brings me out of the post icle stage of a seizure. I hope everyone can now see how amazing she is my beautiful life saving fur baby, who I would die without (literally!!) Shannon is hoping the video will raise awareness of a Facebook page dedicated to disability dogs, saying: Like our page to keep up to date with Poppy and other life-changing dogs!’.
The pooch’s sixth-sense has baffled scientists. Poppy’s abilities are now being studied by experts at Queen’s University in Belfast as part of a ground-breaking study into how dogs could be used to help epilepsy sufferers throughout the world.
PTI