Type 1 Diabetes is an incurable, chronic and potentially fatal condition that affects over 350,000 people in South Africa, and over 18 million in the world.
Type 1 Diabetes requires you to constantly be monitoring your blood glucose levels – even when you’re sleeping!
Thankfully, there are trained Diabetes Alert Dogs (DAD) who can sense when your glucose levels are dropping or increasing 30 minutes before it happens! This gives you time to get to your insulin and send it back to healthy levels.
This might sound ridiculous, but dogs have over 200 million sensors in their nose that can differentiate individual smells at one part in a trillion. Some of those smells can be trained to be on alert for. When your blood sugar changes rapidly you release a smell through your breath and skin that dogs sensitive noses can pick up, even though we can’t smell them ourselves. DADs are trained to associate the smell with something positive – especially since they may get a reward from their owners as a thank you.
What exactly is a Diabetes Alert Dog?
A registered DAD can go anywhere with you, which actually has been said to improve peoples quality of life because they don’t have to stress about checking their glucose levels all the time. They can provide emotional support to their owner, alert people nearby if need be, and even retrieve the medications or a cellphone if there is no one who can help nearby. Doctors have confirmed there has been a drop in paramedic call outs and admissions because of the help of these DADs
It's not just during the day that these dogs are on alert. They are working around the clock, even if they don’t look like it. A trained DAD can pick up the scent of rapid blood sugar changes even while they’re sleeping. If this is while everyone is sleeping, this DAD will do what they can to wake you up so you know you need to take your insulin.
Does breed matter?
When it comes to breed, all dogs could have the potential to become Dad, but Golden Retrievers, Labrador Retrievers, mixed-sporting breeds, and Poodles are genetically easier to train when it comes to their scent senses. DADs have very strict learned features that are a deal-breaker if not trained well enough, and certain breeds may require an extreme amount of work. For example, German Shepherds are natural guarders, so it's in their genetics to guard their owners. Unfortunately, with this guarding gene, there is a chance of growling or worse to protect their owner – this is a non-negotiable.
When considering DAD, you will want to find out what is required of them vs what is genetically embedded in the breed you choose:
- As shown above, dogs that were born to guard are higher risk of protectiveness.
- You will also need to consider the exercise needs of the dog – DADs spend a lot of time working, which can mean lying down or sitting patiently by their human each day.
- Your DAD cannot be distracted, so choosing a breed who is sensitive to sound and loves objects may impact their focus.
- Sizing is also extremely important – unfortunately, small dogs generally are not as effective because their size makes their presence less noticeable – they can also sometimes have more of a fear of crowds since they are so small, but DADs need to be confident in any situation.
Although training a dog to become an official DAD takes commitment and money, they are extremely popular – they can literally save lives.
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