First dementia dogs start work helping owners

The first ever "dementia dogs" have been working with their new owners. The dogs have been trained to help people with early-stage dementia and can remind them to take their medicine and help them get out and about.

They were the brainchild of a group of students from Glasgow School of Art. The students suggested that dogs could be trained to help people with dementia in the same way that guide dogs help people who are blind. With the support of Alzheimer Scotland, Dogs for the Disabled and Guide Dogs Scotland, two dogs underwent 18 months of training.

Golden retriever Oscar and Labrador Kaspa have been working with their new owners for four months, after 18 months of training. They have been taught to respond to alarms and bring medicine pouches, to nudge their owners to read a reminder and to encourage them to get out of bed in the morning.

YouTube link.

Student Luke McKinney, said: "We thought, why can't we train dogs to help people with dementia in the same way as we train dogs to help people who can't see? We presented the idea to Alzheimer Scotland and also some service users, and the feedback we got was instantly huge." The first two dogs have proved such a success that two more are already undergoing training and the charities involved say dementia dogs could be a significant new way of helping people with early-stage dementia.

Dementia Dog website.