A British yellow Labrador from Pleasant Grove, Utah is now known for saving a young girl’s life. Hero, a trained Diabetic alert dog, alerts Sadie’s mom whenever there are changes in her blood sugar. His role in her life is critical since he is the only one who can accurately monitor her blood sugar levels.
Scent receptors at work
Dogs use their scent receptors to monitor the sugar levels of diabetic patients. Those that undergo training to become a Diabetic alert dog can easily detect if the patient’s sugar levels are too high or too low from a minimum of two miles away.
Dogs who are exceptionally gifted, like Hero, can detect sugar levels from up to five miles away.
A complicated situation
Sadie’s parents would have had things a lot easier if she only had Type 1 Diabetes, but that was not the case. The four-year-old also had Down Syndrome, which made it even more difficult for her parents to monitor her blood sugar.
Hero helps them in that department. As a Diabetic alert dog, he is trained to paw, nose, or whine to let Sadie’s parents know that there are changes in her blood sugar. He does the movements on her parent’s left hand if the sugar goes under 100. The same movements are done on the right hand if the sugar goes above 200.
Just in the nick of time
Hero has been keeping Sadie safe for more than two years. However, the most extraordinary thing happened one December day. He managed to alert Sadie’s mom that her sugar was about to go below normal. At that time, Sadie was in a school five miles away from home. Hero kept alerting her mom that she ended up calling the school.
Sadie was doing fine when her mom called. However, an hour and a half after the phone call her sugar dropped to 82 from 112. It was good that Hero alerted Sadie’s mom because they were given enough time to prepare for the drop. Needless to say, Hero saved Sadie’s life.
Credits to Sadie’s Hero
