'Another pair of eyes watching over me:' How a B.C. woman's service dog saved her from drowning
Sherry-Lynn Macwilliams lives with epilepsy and experiences multiple seizures a day. Her service dog Venta is trained to call for help and fetch her medicine when a seizure occurs. Sometimes, however, the dog is able to detect a seizure before it happens.
Macwilliams tells CTV News the most dramatic example came while she was swimming at Shawnigan Lake last summer.
“All of a sudden (Venta) started barking. I thought, ‘Oh you know she just doesn’t like to swim very much and doesn’t like me being in the water,'” said the Surrey resident.
Venta, however, kept barking and jumped into the lake, swimming directly to Macwilliams.
“And started to pull me, definitely pull me to shore,” said Macwilliams. “And so I swam into shore and got into the dock and right then, boom. It hit. Big seizure.”
Without Venta’s help, Macwilliams believes she would’ve drowned.
“That was the silent witness that was acting on her own to take care of my wife,” said Macwilliams; husband, Ian.
“That was God-given. That was just an act of grace and we’re very grateful for her.”
Macwilliams says there have been other occasions where Venta has barked or licked her face seconds before a seizure, giving her valuable seconds to prepare.
“What she can do is far beyond what we expected she could ever do,” said Macwilliams.
Venta trained for six weeks in the Canada Dog Guides Seizure Response Program. CTV News spoke with an instructor who admits Venta was trained to respond to seizures, not predict them. Her life-saving intuition is somewhat puzzling to the trainer.
“I don’t have a definitive answer to give you as to how she has started to pick up on seizures before they happen,” said Melanie Krumme.
Krumme says research is ongoing but there are several possible factors that may be at play, including the bond formed between the service dog and its client. Subtle shifts in things like scent and body-language could be some of the things the dog can detect.
Krumme tells CTV News demand for the service is high and it costs $35,000 to train and receive a dog.
Macwilliams shared her story with CTV News ahead of Canada Dog Guides’ largest annual fundraiser to help raise awareness for the program because she wants others in need to use the service. The non-profit is funded mostly by donations.
“I feel more independence that I’ve had for I think my life,” said Macwilliams. “There’s another pair of eyes watching me all the time.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
U.K. royals unite on palace balcony as Princess of Wales returns to public view after cancer diagnosis
London put on a display of birthday pageantry Saturday for King Charles III, a military parade that marked the Princess of Wales ’ first public appearance since her cancer diagnosis early this year.
Trudeau calls into questions findings of stunning watchdog foreign interference report
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he has concerns with how conclusions were gathered in a spy watchdog report.
'This is my special drink': Hotel bartender charged with sexual assault in downtown Toronto
Toronto police arrested and charged a bartender after a customer was sexually assaulted at a hotel bar in downtown Toronto.
Men are being compared to rodents across the internet. But how do they feel about it?
It began, seemingly, with a few innocuous social media posts comparing Mike Faist, co-star of the titillating tennis throuple film “Challengers,” to a dormouse and soon, the complexity of the analogy snowballed to odd levels of specificity.
House in Ottawa struck by lightning leaving hole in roof: 'We felt mostly shocked'
The thunderstorm that hit Ottawa Thursday evening was accompanied by heavy rain and lightning that struck a house in Orléans.
BREAKING Calgary water main repairs could take 3-5 more weeks, after scans reveal deficiencies in the pipe
Water restrictions could be in place for three to five more weeks in Calgary, after a scan of a broken water main revealed five more locations inside the pipe that are in need of repair.
Abducted child found dead and sister injured in suspected human trafficking case, authorities say
36-year-old Daniel Callahan was arrested Thursday after a 35-year-old mother was found dead and her two abducted daughters were later discovered in Mississippi – one dead and the other alive – in what investigators say may be a human trafficking case.
New details about sexual assault case against billionaire Frank Stronach
Sexual assault charges laid against Canadian businessman Frank Stronach involve three women who police allege were victimized in 1980, 1986, and 2023, according to documents recently filed in a Brampton court.
93-year-old pleads guilty to careless driving after crash involving CTV Kitchener reporter
A 93-year-old woman has pleaded guilty to careless driving causing bodily harm in the crash that sent CTV News Kitchener reporter Stephanie Villella to hospital with life-threatening injuries last year.