Dogs have highly sensitive sense of smell and hearing. They are frequently used in law enforcement to locate prohibited substances such as drugs, and find hiding suspects and fugitives. However, these dogs can also be trained as medical alert dogs. They can be trained to detect seizures before they happen and detect blood sugar levels, which is crucial for diabetics.
A dog named Hero is a diabetic alert dog who was assigned to a four-year-old girl named Sadie. Sadie has Down’s Syndrome and is also a Type-1 diabetic. Sadie’s condition meant that her blood sugar levels needed to be constantly monitored to keep them at the right levels. Hero’s job is to let Sadie’s parents know if her blood sugar levels are too high or too low.
Hero has been trained to display certain behaviors to help Sadie’s parents understand what’s going on with Sadie. High and low blood sugar levels display similar symptoms and it can be hard to tell the difference just by looking at the person. Hero’s sense of smell can detect small changes in Sadie’s body chemistry and warns Sadie’s parents even before any symptoms become noticeable.
Sadie’s parents soon discovered that Hero possesses another ability that will aid in saving their daughter’s life. They were both aware that Sadie and Hero had formed an unbreakable bond since they first met. However, they had no idea that the bond would transcend distance.
When Sadie was in her special needs class, Hero was at home. They were about five miles apart and Hero had no way to smell Sadie. However, Hero suddenly started behaving erratically, indicating that Sadie’s blood sugar levels were low. Sadie’s parents were dumbfounded since Sadie was nowhere near for Hero to smell.
Sadie’s mom, Michelle, decided to call the school just to be sure. She asked the teacher to check Sadie’s blood sugar levels, and the teacher told Michelle that Sadie’s blood sugar levels were fine. Michelle thought that Hero might just be overreacting. However, just a little over 30 minutes after the phone call, the teacher called back to say that Sadie’s blood sugar levels had significantly dropped.
Everyone couldn’t believe that Hero was able to detect trouble even when Sadie was miles away. Even Hero’s trainer couldn’t explain it and stated that it must be just like a mother’s intuition. The family was skeptical about doing the story since they didn’t want to sound crazy about Hero’s ability.
They couldn’t explain how Hero detected Sadie’s condition, but they feel blessed to have Hero for their daughter. Here’s a video featuring Hero’s story and how he alerted his family that Sadie was in trouble even when she was miles away.
Video Source Zoo Land via YouTube
