Alert dogs

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Barb

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
You may have covered this topic before but as a newcomer it would be interesting to hear members' experience of Alert Dogs.

Does anyone own a dog trained to recognise hypos/hypers (apparently there are only around 10 professionally trained dogs in the whole country) or have you successfully trained your dog to draw attention to dangerously low (or high) blood sugars?
 
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No persoanl experience, but i have heard of people saying their pet dog has alerted them to hypos and one firend had a dog who alerted her when she was going to have a seizure and was able to get herself into a safe place.
 
One of our members is currently training her dog to recognise symptoms in her little son (with varying degrees os success at the moment! You can follow the story at her blog: http://mmollymoddey.blogspot.com/

There is also a charity which trains hypo-alert (and for other illnesses): http://www.cancerdogs.co.uk/

People have reported their own pets reacting to lows and highs, apparently we smell differently! 🙂
 
My Judy used to wake me when I started to go low. I don't know how she knew and she was never trained to do it, but she did.
 
If you need a dog you should have a pump or something cos if your at the stage of having unrecognisable hypos all the time you should be getting help, like in hospital.........
 
novorapidboi26 said:
If you need a dog you should have a pump or something cos if your at the stage of having unrecognisable hypos all the time you should be getting help, like in hospital.........
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I think the idea is that children in particular can't always articulate when their levels run high or low, and a dog or other animal can detect the signs before the human does 🙂
 
We have a golden retriever, now 7 years old. I walk her regularly and off the lead she always ran ahead, then came back and repeated it throughout the walk. In the weeks before I was diagnosed, she stopped doing this and just walked alongside me, I didn't make anything of it as it was warm weather.
Since I was diagnosed she never leaves my side on walks unless my OH is with me. When out with my wife alone she is her old self. Strange but true. The vet says that she must sense I have something wrong with me, how?
 
RWJ said:
she must sense I have something wrong with me, how?
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Animals are amazing. I would love a hypo trained dog - or rather, I would love to train one myself as I know there are people who need the pre-trained ones (does that make sense?!) more than I do.
 
Thanks for the advice but I've had diabetes for 32 years and consider myself to be well-controlled. However, with the speed at which quick-acting insulins act bs can drop rapidly, even when following a low GI diet, so in a sense we could all be classed as 'brittle' to some extent.

Hopefully everyone here is fortunate enough to get enough warning signals to do something about low sugars (I've still got 2 or 3 signs I can rely on) but wouldn't a reminder from a family pet be a boon to most people?

novorapidboi26 said:
If you need a dog you should have a pump or something cos if your at the stage of having unrecognisable hypos all the time you should be getting help, like in hospital.........
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Not sure that getting so drunk you don't notice a dog eating your toe is a good way to diagnosis of type 2 diabetes....
 
Copepod said:
Not sure that getting so drunk you don't notice a dog eating your toe is a good way to diagnosis of type 2 diabetes....
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Just shows how stubborn some people are about getting things checked out! (Simon - are you reading this? 😉)
 
novorapidboi26 said:
If you need a dog you should have a pump or something cos if your at the stage of having unrecognisable hypos all the time you should be getting help, like in hospital.........
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Not sure what you think pumps are used for - but they dont increase your hypo awareness. Once you have tight control your hypo awareness can become impaired. If your levels fluctuate a lot then you will *feel* the hypo symptoms a lot quicker than someone who has tight control because their levels are fairly stable. Lots of people do not wake up at night when they are hypo - so having a dog or another way of alerting them is a very sensible idea. Losing ones hypo awareness is not through bad management of diabetes - it is simply what can happen through good control.🙂Bev
 
I think it has also been discussed that as you said Bev - lots of people don't wake up in the night - problem is, that's when the dog is going to sleep! In my mind, the hypo dogs would be brilliant for people who have severe and frequent fluctuations, a bit like a CGM.
 
I think its amazing the way dogs can sense things...my 2 cant even sense the door bell ringing neva mind me having a hypo :D
 
When I first got my cat I thought he could sense hypo's cos he would climb all over me and really make a fuss and palava. then I discovered he really liked chocolate! And I know you shouldn't really treat a hypo with chocolate but who amongst us can resist now and then??!!
 
Northerner said:
Just shows how stubborn some people are about getting things checked out! (Simon - are you reading this? 😉)
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sorry to be out of thread ...any news on simons toe??:confused: posted new thread !
 
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