If you’re diabetic, it can be quite terrifying to not know when your blood sugar will swing too high or go to low. Granted, you should monitor your diet and exercise, but man’s best friend also can come to the rescue.
Indeed, the unique Heaven Scent Paws, a Missouri-based organization incorporated in 2004, provides specially trained diabetic alert dogs, who can help you (if you’re diabetic), your partner or other loved ones to detect both hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) and high blood sugar (hyperglycemia).
Almost sounds too good to be true, right? Actually, this is for real.
Heaven Scent Paws puts the dogs’ acute olfactory sense to good use. Essentially, specially trained dogs learn to identify a chemical (as yet unnamed) on their master’s breath and skin that emerge as soon as the glucose level begins to drop.
For example, diabetic Wayne Dillender gets pivotal help from his yellow Labrador, Maisey, who nudges or licks his master to tell him to check his blood.
What’s fascinating is that the astute dog is correct without fail!
So wildly exciting is this program that Heaven Scent Paws has been covered a lot in the media, including dlife.com, Teen Talk at DiabetesStation.com, diabetes123, and The Today Show. (You’ll find 39,400 hits on Google for the group!)
Want a trained dog? Get details here.
3 thoughts on “Man’s Best Friend Detects Blood Sugar Lows & Highs”
We have a Diabetic Service Alert dog from Heaven Scent Paws and she is absolutely amazing! She alerts to our child for both low and high blood glucose. We are blessed to have a dog from that program.
I have been a type 1 for 32 yrs… I’m 36now. My husband and I adopted Moe, a Jack Russell from the Humane Society…… He has alerted my husband when my blood sugar was low when I was sleeping (has done this 3 times)… Moe gets right in my face and barks… He did it this morning… He barked until my husband came in the room… looked at him and then looked at me and barked again. He is a wonderful dog…we lucked out when we adopted him.
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