Dogs being trained to help diabetics!!!
Dogs to help with diabetes detection!
There have been many accounts by people that tell the story of their dog being able to warn them of impending disease, such as cancer and other illnesses. Many people now have seizure dogs, who can warn their owners about a coming seizure and prepare the individfual so that they are not hurt.
Well, recently in Aylesbury, England dogs are being trained in Britain as potential life-savers to warn diabetic owners when their blood sugar levels fall to dangerously low levels. A dog’s ultra sensitive nose can detect the tiny changes that occur when a person is going to have a hypoglycemic attack. A survey of 212 people in Belfast reported that about 65% of diabetics reported that the behavior of their dogs changed when their blood sugar level began to drop. As a result of that survey, trainers at the Cancer and Bio-Detection Dogs Research Center in Aylesbury are now working with the 17 rescue dogs to enhance and develop the natural skills the dogs have for low blood sugar reactions. Currently the dogs are at various phases of the training process, but once the training is complete the dogs will then be paired with diabetic owners. Many of these owners are hoped to be children.
Chief executive of the Center, Clair Guest said the following, “Dogs have been trained to detect certain odors down to parts per trillion, so we are talking tiny, tiny amounts. Their world is really very different to ours”. Much of the research in terms of diabetes followed the case of Paul Jackson, who told Guest and her team about his dog Tinker who warns him when his sugar levels get too low and he is in danger of collapsing.
As discussed, dogs are not only companions, in many cases they are life savers!!!
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