How Do You Teach A Dog To Detect A Diabetic's Blood Sugar Levels?

Rescue Dog to Super Dog | Saturdays at 10/9c
Nate trains Annie how to detect extreme blood sugar in Tommy, who has Type I diabetes.

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[tdwarrior]

Recently my Saint Bernard acted strange and came up to me and gently took my shirt in his mouth and gave me 2 tugs. I immediately wondered if he sensed something was wrong. I then checked my blood sugar to find it over 200. He's not trained for that but definitely alerted me to something wrong.

[angelicajacobs]

My dog who knew me before I was type 1..after I was diagnosed used to get in my face when I'd go low. She knew something was weird and realized I was low every time. These animals are amazing.

[madeintexasd]

I am a type 1 diabetic and had a dog as a kid that without any training would frantically start going from one side of the room to the other and eventually whining and scratching at the door until it would wake up my brother that shared a room with me. The first few times we had no idea what was going on but after I had a really bad episode of low blood sugar and had a seizure while my brother was going downstairs to see if something was going on. The dog had picked up that I was a diabetic and was able to do what it could to alert my family. Nowadays thankfully this isn't needed due to advanced sensors that can tell you your blood sugar at any moment and set off alarms. I could definitely see this being useful to let others know but you can also send alarms to other people's phones using the glucose sensor. I definitely want a service dog as a diabetic though.

[Nordic_E.T.]

I have a G.S. Huskey Malamute puppy. Feenyx "Beast Mode" is 9 weeks today. I've seen him act strangly when my sugar is low but pushed it off as he's a energetic little thing. But today was different, he would let me out the door and was crying but wasn't hungry or bathroom break. Then it finally occured to me that he was smelling the drop in my sugar. I cried like a Baby as I held him being incredibly thankful for him.
🐕🧎🏾‍♀️🖤❤️💛💚🖤
My Twins Tuxedo cat Long as also detected. Both without training!!!

[corporalwolf]

Our cat has saved my sister from low blood sugars multiple times

[vichosha]

Hi... I'm with diabetes type 1 and I almost died soon from hypoglycemia. I'd like to teach my cat warns me when my blood is low, because sometimes i don't feel it when it drops down. I can't open the site you put into your description, because it's not available for Bulgaria, but i think that would be great to give people like me, who have hard time with diabetes, the ability to teach their paw-family members how to show warnings. Greetings and much love❤

[larrywolf]

I'm a little bit curious though, Tommy seems a bit old for this, to me.

Don't misunderstand me, I'm a Type I Diabetic myself and have been ever since I was a toddler. I could see the need for this when I was a young child, but I must say, past the age of say 11 or 12, I *knew* when my blood sugar levels were dropping close to dangerously low levels just by feeling it in my body. Not to mention, Tommy should be old enough to operate his BS meter (and always carry it on his person responsibly) at this age.

I'm not bagging on Tommy as being irresponsible or anything, but I want to understand and explore what one of these dogs actually offers for a Type I Diabetic of this age and beyond that I cannot do for myself or simply detect myself by my body's own feelings.

I'm 40 now and know my body very well. It's actually a very important experience to have low blood sugar a few times growing up so you *know* what the feeling is and when to act.

[maddiswift]

So what odor is associated with high blood sugar? And what odor is associated with low blood sugar?