Dogs are amazing. Most dog lovers have heard this phrase on more than one occassion, and every pet parent usually has more than one “my dog did the most amazing thing” story. So it comes as no surprise that a dog’s olfactory system and downright devotion to humans are coming to the rescue once again.
In a recent BBC News report, the world met 6-year-old Rebecca Farrah from the UK, who is the first child to be successfully partnered with a dog trained to sniff out her sugar levels. Rebecca has Type 1 diabetes, and Shirley, a yellow Labrador Retriever trained by Cancer and Bio-detection Dogs, has been enlisted to keep Rebecca’s sugar from reaching dangerously low levels, thereby preventing the little girl from falling into a diabetic coma.
“She’s a diabetic, Type I, and she gives off an odor when her sugar level drops. And Shirley picks up this odor,” said Claire Farrah, Rebecca’s mom. ”She senses it before we know [Rebecca's] going low.”
Shirley, similar to i Love Dogs friend Surf Dog Ricochet, had “sort of failed the audition to be a guide dog for the blind,” as described on BBC News. But that didn’t keep Claire Guest and others at Cancer and Bio-detection Dogs from seeing the potential in the pooch.
“I work for a charity that trains dogs to detect human disease by odor,” said Guest. “Every change in our body, change in our health, has a change in odor. We’ve only just recently learned this over the last few years.”
The charity, though relatively small and new, began by training dogs to detect various forms of cancer in humans. They’ve since moved on to include training dogs to alert diabetics of their low or high blood sugar levels.
“We found that dogs are remarkably accurate,” said Guest. ”They can warn somebody immediately when their blood sugar is dropping to a dangerously low level.”
Currently the organization has only trained 10 dogs to do this very important job — the only 10 in all of the UK. Shirley is the first diabetes-detection dog to be successfuly partnered with a diabetic child. So far, Shirley’s done a phenomenal job, according to Rebecca’s mother, who described a particularly amazing night at a party.
“We had no idea [Rebecca] was going low. She was dancing away with her twin brother, Joseph,” said Farrah.
“They came back to the table for a drink and Shirley went and sat on Rebecca’s lap. She just started licking [Rebecca's] hands and licking her legs — she wouldn’t leave her alone. Rebecca’s medical bag was underneath the table at the time; it was open. And Shirley went into the medical bag and got the testing kit out and gave it to Rebecca. We thought, oh, there’s something wrong here. So we did a sugar test on Rebecca and she was low. If I didn’t have Shirley at the time, Rebecca would have collapsed.”
What every dog in the world does very easily and naturally — sniff — Shirley was able to swiftly do to potentially save a little girl’s life. Shirley’s been trained to smell Rebecca for fluctuations in scent due to sugar level changes and then to lick Rebecca’s arms and legs until humans respond to her alert. Shirley’s remarkable instincts and skills have helped Farrah sleep better through the night, a time of day when it’s very difficult to know whether Rebecca’s sugar levels have dropped.
“I bet you love Shirley, don’t you?” Turnbull asked little Rebecca. Rebecca could hardly hold back the smile bubbling under her shy exterior. The answer was a clear “yes.”
Dogs have been known to save lives by sniffing out everything from peanuts in foods to prevent allergic reactions in humans, to prostate cancer in humans. Being able to depend on a dog’s incredible sense of smell is a great gift that humans are now learning to harness.
The demand for these diabetic-sniffing dogs is already high, but right now this small charity will need to grow some more before being able to meet the need.
“We already have a waiting list,” said Guest. “But we’re a very new, small charity, and our hope is that we’re able to help many people in the future.”
To make a donation to Cancer and Bio-detecting Dogs, click here.
PHOTOS: traingulations.wordpress.com, BBC News
Category : News
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