Gofree, Hungary’s first celiac assistance dog on duty

At the beginning of March, Gofree, the Hungarian assistance dog, prepared by the NEO Hungarian Service Dog Charitable Association (NEO Magyar Segítőkutya Közhasznú Egyesület in Hungarian), has passed the practice exam with the trainers of the Association.

The professional assistance dog exam was unfortunately postponed indefinitely, since the preparation and examination venue, the National Institute of Medical Rehabilitation, was closed due to the epidemic.

After one and a half years of training, Gofree has passed the exam consisting of specific tasks and scent detection, NEO Hungarian Service Dog Charitable Association announced.

Gofree has successfully proven to have the right level of education, the dog and can start working with an 11-year-old girl with celiac disease (gluten-sensitive enteropathy).

Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease characterised by an immune reaction to eating gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye. It can only be treated with a strict, lifelong gluten-free diet.

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A product is considered gluten-free when it contains less than 20 mg of gluten per kg. Scent detection dogs are trained from a very young age until they become fully imprinted on the specific scent. According to the measured data, they are able to smell less than 10 mg of gluten in 1 kg food, which is below the gluten-free limit.

Gofree is the first celiac assistance dog in Hungary and also in Europe.

The staff of the Hungarian assistance dog organisation mastered the training method with the involvement of the professional dog trainer, Maja Golob. The Golob-Workshop was held in the autumn of 2019, in which several Hungarian training organisations participated in order to expand their knowledge about the training of different types of assistance dogs, such as seizure alert dogs, diabetic alert dogs and celiac assistance dogs.

The workshop was supported by the Ministry of Human Capacities and the Equal Opportunities of Persons with Disabilities Non-profit Ltd. (FSZK).

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Source: segitokutya.net/