Your Dog is Smarter Than You Are

After losing her entire family in a car accident that left her with moderate brain damage, Cynthia had bought a large, friendly dog to comfort her as she tried to recover from her trauma. For the first year and a half, the animal’s companionship had helped her get through each day. But, the large dog grew increasingly agitated, and started biting on her pant leg, pulling so hard that she almost hit the ground. Puzzled, the vet gave her several ideas for curbing the animal’s strange behavior, but nothing seemed to work. Exasperated, Cynthia was on the verge of giving her dog up to an animal shelter when she had her first epileptic seizure. During a conversation with her neurologist after the attack, Cynthia’s told her doctor about her dog’s odd behavior. To her surprise, the doctor said. “Your dog is fine. In fact more, than fine. I believe he’s one of those dogs that senses when seizures are about to happen. He’s been tugging on your pants to get you to sit down so you won’t fall and hurt yourself.” 
The Neurologist turned out to be correct.
Cynthia’s pet was one of the gifted canines capable of sensing the potential onset of an epileptic seizure. Even though she had only had one outright seizure, brain damage from the accident had moved her to the brink of having a seizure multiple times. And each time her furry companion had tried to save her. So, here’s the question: How many people do you know who are smart enough to sense when someone is about to have a seizure and get them to the ground before they hurt themselves?
 Answer: Zero. Cynthia’s dog was smarter than any human when it came to epilepsy.
 Neuroscientists believe that dog’s acute sense of smell may help them detect subtle chemical changes associated with epilepsy. But we don’t have a clue how the animals know that pulling someone who is about to have a seizure to the ground is a good idea. Without training, other seizure dogs have spontaneously gotten pillows to cushion their owner’s fall.
 Knowing what to do with epilepsy isn’t the only area that dogs can be smarter than humans.