Shelter dog detects man’s seizure

By Colby Johnson
Published: Jun. 9, 2025 at 4:57 PM EDT

RUSTBURG, Va. (WDBJ) - A shelter dog in Campbell County is being praised after she alerted people at an adoption event Saturday that a man was about to have a seizure. Now, the attention she is getting is helping her find a forever home. … The dog, Sienna, was being walked around by a volunteer when she suddenly walked straight up to a man she’d never met.

“Sienna walked over to a man, very deliberately. She had not met him before. She paused, sat down beside him, put her paw on his foot, and just sat there. It was a couple of minutes later she started pawing at his leg, and his wife came around the corner and said, ‘Oh my goodness. This means he’s probably going to have a seizure.’ He had some medical problems, and one of the signs was that he got very still,” said Barbe Shackleford, Director of Friends of Campbell County Animal Control.

The man had a history of seizures, and thanks to Sienna, his wife quickly got him into the car to provide the care he needed. … “She took him straight to the car, where he got some shade, some rest, and some air conditioning. She was amazed. She told our volunteer later that they have three dogs at home, and none of them have ever shown any kind of attention like that before, like a precursor to a seizure,” said Shackleford. “She wanted to make sure that everybody knew what an awesome dog Sienna was, because she has this innate ability to identify when somebody might be having a medical crisis.”

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