Shock Over Woman's Reaction to Friend's Service Dog: 'Jealous Witch'

A woman from Canada who has epilepsy recently asked Reddit users if she was wrong in a situation involving her service dog and a member of her friends' group.

In the post, Maddie, 24, said she has a fully trained and certified service dog named Bailey, a Labrador who is trained to help her with her seizures. At a recent gathering at a friend's house, Maddie was pressured by the host to put Bailey outside. She subsequently had a seizure without the aid of her dog and required hospitalization. The other friends called the host a "hateful, toxic and jealous witch" for her behavior toward Maddie.

Maddie told Newsweek, "Bailey helps me with my epilepsy in many ways. She makes my life substantially easier and gives me peace of mind. My seizures are really regular, and her main job is to keep me safe when they happen. She will place her body next to mine while I'm in a seizure to help me not injure myself and ensure that I don't stand up too quickly afterwards."

Maddie also said that Bailey is trained to find a phone and Maddie's medication when she shows signs of a seizure.

An estimated 500,000 service dogs are in action in the United States, providing an essential service to their owners and enabling them to better deal with the effects of a mental or physical condition. Seizure dogs cannot be trained to "alert" a person of an oncoming seizure, but the dog may be useful in assisting the person during the seizure or afterward, according to the Epilepsy Foundation.

However, Bailey is one of the few service dogs that can predict a seizure, Maddie told Newsweek.

"I don't fully know how, as there's not really full proof of this, nor can dogs be trained for this. But we're speculating that she can sense changes in my body or even smells which gives us a warning a seizure is coming," Maddie said. "That way I can ensure I'm lying down or sitting so I don't fall. This isn't guaranteed, and like I said, not all dogs can do this. But I'm fortunate that Bailey is able to."

In her post, Maddie wrote that the friend who pressured her into putting Bailey outside often makes disparaging comments, including how inconvenient her dog is, and says that Maddie doesn't really need her.

"She seemed smug when I put her outside," Maddie told Newsweek, "My other friends were livid, but I asked them to drop it to keep the peace."

Members of the host's family are now constantly calling Maddie, demanding that she fix the situation. "I think she's learned this behavior from her family," she said, "They are all just looking for drama, and I want no part in it. She's always been an incredibly jealous person our whole life. Not just towards me. I think it's a personality trait. She's never been able to handle it if attention isn't on her."

Commenters on Reddit's Am I the A****** page were indignant on Maddie's behalf and voted that was not one.

"She sounds awful, tbh. Your friend group was right to stick up for you. Her behavior was deplorable," said one user.

Another said, "It's more that they expect OP to be institutionalized so they can relegate the disabled to the rare 'inspirational' example...and let the rest of us die behind securely locked and chained doors in obscurity, like we used to."

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