We believe that having a Medical Alert Dog may improve the safety, independence and confidence of a person living with a life threatening health condition, allowing a better quality of life.
For further information please contact Simone Brainch our Client Liaison Officer Telephone: 01296 655888
Email: simone.brainch@medicaldetectiondogs.org.uk
Guidelines for Eligibility and Acceptance
We are committed to treating every potential applicant equally. We are however aware that due to the number of individuals applying for our dogs that we must be realistic about the number of people that we can help and will have to therefore, only accept those individuals onto the waiting list to whom we feel we can be of most assistance.
We are fully committed to helping people who are most in need and whose lives are detrimentally affected by their condition and who have made every attempt to manage their condition by other means.
Please see the following guidelines which we adhere to in making the decision on who is accepted as an applicant for one of our medical alert dogs.
- Diagnosed with a condition for a minimum of 12 months.
- Aggressiveness of the condition.
- The current impact of the condition on the applicant’s daily life, for example, the amount of hospital admissions and 999 calls to paramedics made by the applicant.
- Whether the condition as resulted in the client having to give up their employment or in the case of a child has caused absences at school.
- The individual’s ability to bond with an assistance dog.
- The individual’s commitment to the ongoing training with the assistance dog
- Flexibility to attend the training centre and regular public access training days and to keep the necessary records.
- Geographic Location
Although we are national within England, we are not currently registered in Scotland, the Channel Isles or Ireland. We do hope to be able to complete registration in Scotland in the near the future, however, within our current fund and resources restrictions, this is not feasible at the present time, as we do not feel we would be able to give the support and time needed in ensuring the success of any partnerships in these areas. We may consider that there are certain locations within England and Wales where we could not provide adequate support and aftercare and therefore may have to put an individual’s application on hold until such time that we feel that we can offer a full support service.
- Age of Client
Normally the applicant must be over the age of 6 years and under the age 70 years old. The minimum age has been set as we have found that partnerships over this age tend to be more successful, due to the importance of the bond between the dog and the child, which, past experiences has shown us, improves the older the child becomes.
We have felt it necessary to set the maximum age due to our limited resources and funds and the current waiting time of approximately 3 years, we have to try and give the maximum live changing impact to a client. We also realise that the level of commitment and work for the ongoing training for one of our medical alert dogs is high and therefore a lot to expect of a client.
- Successor Dogs
The organisation gives priority on its waiting list to applicants wishing to be considered for successor dogs.
- Appeals Policy
Medical Detection Dogs has an appeals procedure for any individual who wishes to appeal against a decision not to place a medical alert dog following application. Any individual who wishes to follow this procedure should write to the charity with a full explanation of their situation with 21 days of an application decision letter. This appeal will be considered by the CEO and Director of Operations Dr Claire Guest and Medical Advisor Dr Carol Tang. The applicant will be informed in writing about the result of the appeal within 21 days.
If you feel you fit these criteria and would like to apply, please download and complete the following application forms and if diabetic return to us along with your last 3 months blood glucose results.
Download Diabetes Questionnaire >>
Children and Team Dogs
Medical Detection Dogs place alert dogs with children who have chronic life threatening health conditions. These dogs are known as ‘Team Dogs’ as they can assist not only the child with their condition but also the parent/carer who is responsible for both the care of the child and the dog.
Please bear in mind, it is early days with regards to training and very much work in progress. We are finding that when the child is nearer to the age of 7 or 8 that the partnership is likely to be more successful.
If you would like to apply for a Team Dog please download and complete the following application forms and if diabetic return to us along with your child's last 3 months blood sugar results.
Download Diabetes Questionnaire >>
Owner trained program
It can be feasible to train an own dog as a Medical Alert Dog. However, it is also important to be aware that being part of Assistance Dogs UK, Europe and International, there are standards and temperament criteria that your dog would need to meet to qualify as a working dog, such as Guide and Hearing Dogs have to, as they will be able to access to public places. Therefore there would be no guarantee that your dog would be suitable and would pass the assessment.
We would advise that you attend Association of Pet Dog trainers (APDT) training classes and use the Kennel Club’s Good Citizenship bronze and silver awards on general obedience.
This program is very demanding and requires serious commitment. If you have a dog that you would like considered for medical alert training, please download and complete the following application forms and if diabetic return to us along with your last 3 months blood glucose results.
Get involved >>
Support Medical Detection Dogs by texting a donation. Simply send SNIF11 £3 to 70070 to make a £3 donation
Find out more before you text >>
