Canine Alert™ Device
Problem: For many veterans, PTSD-induced nightmares are a debilitating aspect of daily life impacting sleep quality, overall well-being and daily functioning.
Solution: The Canine Alert™ Device enables service dogs to interrupt PTSD episodes earlier, leading to a shorter recovery period process. The CanineAlert™ Device integrates state-of-the-art technology with the specialized training of Canine Companions® service dogs, offering a more comprehensive solution to the traumatic nightmares experienced by veterans living with the symptoms of PTSD.
Canine Companions for Independence | Santa Rosa, CA | CCI-Funded | 2024
The CanineAlert™ Device monitors the wearer's heart rate and wirelessly communicates with a collar device worn by the service dog. The collar activates a specific vibration that prompts the service dog into action. Unlike conventional approaches that focus only on interrupting nightmares, the CanineAlert™ Device also facilitates a faster recovery process by training the service dogs to initiate tasks aimed at reducing anxiety and hypervigilance in veteran's post-nightmare. Canine Companions® developed the CanineAlert™ Device to improve upon one of the most popular skills among Canine Companions® service dogs, the ability to recognize active nightmares and intervene by pulling off blankets or otherwise waking their humans and interrupting the episode.
I worked on this project with CCI as a design team volunteer along with Collette Bunton, MIS, Sarah Leighton, Ph.D. and Shira Mowlem, JD.
