Q: How do I apply for an epilepsy seizure alert dog?

You can start your application online by filling in this form. We will then be in touch. If you have further questions or require assistance then please call 0114 261 7800 to speak to someone on our friendly team.

Question 1

How do I arrange a speaker from Support Dogs at my event?

Accepted Answer

Simply click on the button below and fill in the form

Request a talk or visit by Support Dogs | Support Dogs

Question 2

Can you train my pet dog to be a disability assistance dog?

Accepted Answer

Yes. For our disability assistance programme we will train your dog to be an assistance dog. You must have your own pet dog aged between 1 and 3 years old. PLEASE NOTE no dog will commence training until they are at least 18 months of age.

You must NOT acquire a dog for the sole purpose of having it trained by Support Dogs. You must have had your own pet dog for at least six months.

Question 3

How do I apply for an disability assistance dog?

Accepted Answer

Download an information pack

You can start your application online by filling in this form.

We will then be in touch. If you have further questions or require assistance then please call 0114 261 7800 to speak to someone on our friendly team.

Question 4

What are the requirements for getting an autism assistance dog?

Accepted Answer

Three essential criteria that you must meet are:

Your child is aged between three years old and eight years old
Your child has a confirmed diagnosis of autism
You must live no further than 2 hours away from our training centre in Sheffield, S6 1QS

To read the full list of requirements please download an information pack

Question 5

Can you train my pet dog to be an autism assistance dog?

Accepted Answer

Our charity currently does not train existing pet dogs for our autism programme

Question 6

How do I apply for an autism assistance dog?

Accepted Answer

Download an information pack

You can start your application online by filling in this form.

We will then be in touch. If you have further questions or require assistance then please call 0114 261 7800 to speak to someone on our friendly team.

Please note: We are facing exceptionally high numbers of enquiries currently, so our response time is around 9 weeks.

Question 7

How do I apply for an epilepsy seizure alert dog?

Accepted Answer

You can start your application online by filling in this form.

We will then be in touch. If you have further questions or require assistance then please call 0114 261 7800 to speak to someone on our friendly team.

Question 8

What are the requirements for getting an epilepsy seizure alert dog?

Accepted Answer

Two key requirements are:

You should have a confirmed diagnosis of epilepsy.
You should have at least 10 major seizures per month. Major seizures are
defined as tonic clonic/atonic or complex partials, but not including nocturnal
seizures.

To view the full criteria please download an information pack

Question 9

Can you train my pet dog to be an epilepsy seizure alert dog?

Accepted Answer

No. You cannot have you own pet dog trained.

Question 10

What does an epilepsy seizure alert dog do?

Accepted Answer

Seizure alert dogs are trained to provide a 100% reliable warning up to 1 hour in advance of an oncoming seizure. They give time for their owner to find a place of safety and privacy as they have their seizure.

Question 11

Is there an age limit for the epilepsy seizure alert programme?

Accepted Answer

We accept applications from those aged from 15 years. However you must be at least 16 years old before beginning full time training with Support Dogs.

Question 12

Why do you have an age limit of 8 for being accepted on to your autism programme?

Accepted Answer

Why do you have an age limit of 8 for your autism programme?

Sadly our charity’s limited resources and the exceptionally high demand for our services meant that we have had to restrict the reach of this programme.

We set the age limit of up to 8 years of age for accepting a child on to our programme to try to maximise the impact an autism assistance dogs can have as that autistic child grows and progresses through childhood.

Question 13

Facebook posts

Accepted Answer

Our work with rescue dogs

Disability Assistance Dog Programme

Autism Assistance Dog Programme

Epilepsy Seizure Alert Dog Programme

Question 14

Different types of gifts you can make in your will

Accepted Answer

Residuary gift
This is when, after you have made specific and monetary gifts, a percentage is left to one or more individuals or charities. As it is a percentage it ensures that your loved ones are taken care of and you won’t have to keep changing your Will as circumstances change. This is a particularly popular way to leave a gift to a charity.

A gift of just 1% to our charity in your will can make a huge difference to those we help.

When contacting your professional will adviser, you just need our registered charity number 1088281 to include our charity in your will.

Cash gift
This is when you state a specific amount of money, for example £5,000. It is also known as a pecuniary gift.

This can be of any amount you choose.

When contacting your professional will adviser, you just need our registered charity number 1088281 to include our charity in your will.

Question 15

Free online will making service

Accepted Answer

We have partnered with MakeaWillOnline.co.uk to provide a free of charge will writing service to supporters.

This simple to use online service is available at www.makeawillonline.co.uk/supportdogs and is a simple online form to work through. Make-a-Will Online work with hundreds of different charities across the UK and have been operating for over 10 years.

The solicitors from Make-a-Will Online check every will for your peace of mind. When you make a will they tell us a gift exists. You can also choose to share your name so we can say “thank you”.

It’s possible to make a will without sharing any information at all with us by going to https://makeawillonline.co.uk/online-wills. We won’t find out anything about any gift you leave. Whatever you choose to do we are very grateful for your help!

Question 16

Are you a family member with a relative living with autism, epilepsy or a disability

Accepted Answer

If this is not done and they receive benefit from your Will then it is entirely possible that the family member you care will lose some, or all, of their statutory benefits on receipt of the gift you have left them in your will.

Typically, the cost of such a trust is only £250 but it can protect the whole future for your family member living with a challenging medical condition.

If you decide this is a good idea, you can also draft Lasting Powers of Attorney. There are two lasting powers of attorney – one for financial decisions and another for health and care decisions. Again, it is important to take professional advice to make sure they are phrased to suit the needs of your whole family.

You can find out more about this here

Question 17

Making a show of your support

Accepted Answer

Support Dogs fundraising pack
From working with you to develop great PR opportunities, to providing materials including posters, banners, all sorts of collection pots and cuddly support dogs for your buildings we will work with you to get the most of a relationship. Where we can will come in and speak to staff and get them involved in volunteering with the charity.

We have flexible and open way of working with businesses of all sizes and always open to new ideas. Please email fundraising@supportdogs.org.uk or phone 0114 261 7800

Question 18

Payroll giving

Accepted Answer

This is probably the easiest way to help us transform lives. Please help us to promote to your staff the impact of signing up to a monthly pre-tax donation. It can turn £1.00 into £1.25! Support Dogs are able to claim 25% through tax on any donation made through payroll giving. sponsor a support dog welcome pack

If your staff sign up to donate on a monthly basis we can put their support towards a specific dog or puppy, where they will receive a lovely sponsors pack with cuddly toy dog, certificate a 3 updates a year

To find out more about setting up payroll giving in your organisation please email fundraising@supportdogs.org.uk or phone 0114 261 7800. You can also click here to read The Charity Aid Foundation guidance

Question 19

Corporate Sponsorship

Accepted Answer

We have a flexible approach to working with businesses of all sizes and want to work with you to engage your support in the most effective and personable way.

Smaller businesses support us from just £250 a year with the sponsorship of support dog partnership working in their local area. However if your company has the capacity to make a more significant difference to our work and the lives of those we help, then there is wide range of ways you can get involved.

Whether you could contribute to the £20,000 it costs to train a life changing support dog partnership, or perhaps partner the training of one of our puppies during their first year from £8000. For these larger amounts of support we can also look to name a support dog puppy in recognition of the contribution you have made.

Alternatively you may like to focus your support on a specific area of our work; our autism program, our epilepsy program, our work for those with physical disability or perhaps support our work training those dogs we train from rescue centres, giving them a second chance for a better life and to be heroes.

However way you choose we will be happy to work with you. We have a flexible way of working with businesses and whether if it is financial support, donations of product or pro-bono support with services we will ensure you have a real feel for the impact you make, raise awareness of your support and ensure we create a real partnership with you.

Please contact us at fundraising@supportdogs.org.uk or 0114 261 7800 to find out more

Question 20

Charity of the Year

Accepted Answer

Our work is unique and innovative and this will is also reflective in how we work with our Charity of the Year partners. This includes:
- Creating opportunities for staff and customers to learn first hand about the impact their support will be make
- Providing creative, memorable events, ideas, opportunities and materials to help you reach your fundraising targets
- Providing support with PR to increase awareness of our support, while increasing greater understanding of disability and the medical conditions your donation will help.

Corporate partnerships are about more than money, they are also about building your team’s connection with a cause they feel passionately about.

Autism, epilepsy and physical disabilities including MS, Cerebral Palsy affect millions of people in the UK each year. Your support will help make a huge difference to our work to make their lives better. Please email fundraising@supportdogs.org.uk or phone 0114 261 7800

Question 21

Do you train dogs to alert to non-epileptic seizures?

Accepted Answer

Our charity’s area of expertise is training dogs to alert to epileptic seizures and we are also limited by our resources.

Question 22

My dog is helping me already can I just register with you and buy an assistance dog jacket?

Accepted Answer

All support dogs must go through our charity's rigorous selection assessment and training programme inline with Assistance Dogs International guidelines and standards before they can become a registered as a support dog with our charity. This process can take up to 2 years.

Question 23

Do you provide dogs to people living in Northern Ireland or overseas?

Accepted Answer

Due to our limited resources we currently have to restrict our coverage of support to the whole of Mainland UK (England, Scotland, and Wales). The exception to this is our autism programme, which again due to particularly high demand and limited resources, is restricted to a maximum of 2 hours road travel from our Sheffield training centre.

Question 24

How much does it cost to train a support dog?

Accepted Answer

We provide our services entirely free of charge to those who will benefit from our work. We do not ask for any payment for our work.

The cost to our charity of each support dog partnership, from initial training, to client training and support throughout its working life, is approximately £54,000.

Question 25

Do you get any government funding to pay for the dogs and the training?

Accepted Answer

We receive no government funding and rely entirely on voluntary donations and fundraising to continue transforming lives of those affected by autism, epilepsy and disability.

Question 26

Do you get any government funding to pay for the dogs and the training?

Accepted Answer

We receive no government funding and rely entirely on voluntary donations and fundraising to continue transforming lives of those affected by autism, epilepsy and disability.

Question 27

Do you provide dogs to help people with mental health issues, anxiety or panic attacks?

Accepted Answer

We do not specifically train dogs to assist with these conditions, although some of our clients report that this is a secondary benefit they have experienced in

Question 28

I bought a dog from a private company. They said it would be trained to help me but it is not working out and I am having problems. Can you help me?

Accepted Answer

The capacity of our charity’s work is limited by funds and resources. Our charity is already working at full capacity to help our clients who have applied for a support dog through our existing programmes.