Allergen Detection Service Dogs are used by people with anaphylactic allergies so severe that they could go into anaphylactic shock just by touching trace amounts of a substance. Although often referred to just as “peanut dogs,” these dogs can be used to detect any allergen. Whether it is peanuts, tree nuts, milk, eggs, soy, wheat or any other substance, a highly trained detection dog can search the environment and alert to any residue that could cause its owner to go into anaphylaxis.
People of all ages who have severe contact or respiratory anaphylaxis can benefit from using an Allergen Detection Service Dog if they feel they are at risk of accidental exposure to their allergens in their environment. Experience has shown that dogs are most beneficial when the allergen is often encountered in unexpected places, preventing the person from being able to tell a safe environment from an unsafe one. Reactions can be mild, but for some people, life-threatening anaphylaxis is a risk.
Did you know?
According to Food Allergy Research & Education, an organization that works on behalf of Americans with food allergies, one in every 13 children in the United States has a food allergy, and peanuts are one of the 8 most common food allergens. Keeping in mind that Peanuts are NOT the only allergen out there that individuals have severe reactions to but are the most common of the 8 food allergens.
Since the peanut allergy is one of the most common food allergies that we see being utilized with an allergy detection dog, we will keep our focus today on “peanut allergy” detection service dogs, not that the others are any less important, but the peanut allergy is most common.
There is no cure for peanut allergy, so the only treatment is to avoid peanuts and peanut products altogether.
Imagine having a deadly allergy to something that could turn up anywhere. For people with this allergy, keeping peanuts out of their homes most of the time is not enough because the allergy is so bad— they must be cautious when they are out in the world, as well. Restaurants, schools, and even playgrounds can all be contaminated with peanut products. For example, it only takes somebody with peanut butter on his hands to touch something to make it potentially lethal to a person with a peanut allergy.
However, it can be impossible for people to detect minute traces of peanuts. Dogs on the other hand, with their superior sense of smell, can successfully tackle the task. Just as a dog can be trained for explosive or bedbug detection, he also can be trained to sniff for the presence of peanuts and peanut products. For some people with a severe peanut allergy, these peanut detection dogs are proving to be invaluable.
To say that dogs are super smellers is an understatement. Chances are your dog leads with his nose to get the information he cannot get with his eyes alone. This is why an allergy detection service dog has such an important job of keeping his/her handler safe from the one thing that could be deadly to them. Humans have a paltry five million scent receptors in their noses compared with the 225 million that dogs like German Shepherds have. It is no wonder canines have been working as scent detectors (narcotics alert, search, and rescue, bomb detection) for decades.
These dogs are trained to detect the allergen and its residue at schools, social events, and everyday activities and alert their owner. Their training is similar to that of a police dog learning to track scents or drugs. A peanut detection dog scans the environment for traces of peanuts, keeping the allergic person safe from contact with the allergen. Whenever the dog detects the scent of peanuts, he will give a trained response such as a sit, known as an “alert,” to indicate what he has found. His duties can include sniffing food before they are eaten, smelling any item entering the home such as library books or toys, and even scanning guests before they enter the house to ensure they are free of any trace of peanuts. The dog can also accompany his human partner to public places and perform those same safety checks out in the world.
Let’s talk now about the tasks that an Allergy detection service dog performs:
• A detection dog scans the environment for traces of peanuts or other known allergies, keeping the allergic person safe from contact with the allergen. Whenever the dog detects the scent of peanuts, he will give a trained response such as a sit, known as an “alert,” to indicate what he has found.
Duties can include:
• Sniffing foods before they are eaten
• Smelling any item entering the home such as library books or toys
• Scanning guests before they enter the house to ensure they are free of any trace of peanuts or other known allergen.
• The dog can also accompany his human partner to public places and perform those same safety checks out in the world.
There is an excessive cost for the training of an allergy detection dog due to the extensive time and expertise needed to train them. But if you or your loved one has a severe allergy to peanuts, they can be a literal lifesaver. Because there is no cure for a peanut allergy, taking every precaution can include using the incredible power of a dog’s nose.
These are just some of the common tasks that an allergy service dog can provide to an individual at any given time to help the life of its handler!
In closing: We want to thank you again today for taking the time to read, educate and find some interesting facts that you may have already known or may have not known, but these are all things that many of us take for granted and that we should be educated on even though it may not be something we deal with in life. Who knows you may meet someone tomorrow with a food allergy and hey you are already partially educated, and it gives you a running start to know what they are going through. EMPATHY… A strong, yet immensely powerful word that many forget to have sometimes for those that struggle a little harder than we do.
(For those that do not know what EMPATHY means—
DEFINITION-Empathy is the capacity to understand or feel what another person is experiencing from within their frame of reference, that is, the capacity to place oneself in another’s position.)
SMILE TODAY! Make someone’s day a little brighter!
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