Special dog sniffs out boy's seizures

Guilford, Conn.(WTNH) - Tristan Peterson is a charmer. He instantly makes friends with everyone he meets. He's a little boy with a huge heart.

Now Tristan's bonding with his new buddy, Alfie. But Alfie's more than just a friend to Tristan. He's a protector -- almost a four-legged shadow. Tristan has a rare and severe form of epilepsy and Alfie is specially-trained to detect seizures before they happen.

"Anywhere from ten minutes to thirty minutes before the seizure, Alfie will go up and will sniff Tristan, a very aggressive sniff," Tristan's mom Lisa Defaranos-Peterson said.

Alfie picks up the scent of chemicals released in Tristan's body before the seizures. Tristan can also literally lean on the dog for balance. The dog is big help to Tristan and his to family.

"We're his doctors and nurses 24/7, so it's nice to have Alfie's assistance with that," Lisa said.

Speaking of assistance, the dog wouldn't even be here if not for an outpouring of support from the community. Last year Tristan's mom led a spin-a-thon at Branford's In-Shape Fitness Center, where she's a teacher. She wanted to try to offset some of the costs of buying and training the dog, which is about $11,000. They got that and an much, much more.

"Word got out about this event and all of the people that I had contacted or knew from the gym then contacted all of the people that they knew," Lisa said.

In all, they raised about $34,000, with the extra money going to help other families get service dogs for their children. Lisa says the support has been overwhelming. It's also been inspiring, helping her power through ten straight days of 6-hour training with Alfie, Tristan and Tristan's sister Gabriella.

"It was really, really intense and to be honest with you, I wanted to give up, i really did," Lisa said. "But because of what everybody did to get us there and to get Tristan this dog, it was really what got me through."