Medication Reminders - Service Dogs

Mary is distractable. It’s not the she doesn’t WANT to take her medications, it’s just that she gets to doing something, something comes up, and soon she is hyper-focused, and…. it’s 2pm and she never took her AM meds.

Mary really wants to remember, so she asks her Service Dog trainer about Medication Reminders as a task for her K9. When she gets distracted and forgets, her K9 still knows it’s time, and asks her to focus and take care of business.

Duke has a behavioral disorder which causes him to defy authorities. He takes medication that helps. But the problem is that he doesn’t want to receive the instruction from his guardians to take that med. He’s resistant.

What if a special K9 partner was prompting the medication reminder? Just the fact that the dog told the boy and the boy reminded the guardian took the fire out of the situation. The process led to a more peaceful interaction overall.

Medication reminders are for specific situations and not for everyone. However, they really benefit certain populations, and are great work for a Service Dog.

AKC.org shares more information on Service dogs here.