FRANKLIN, TN (WSMV) -
People with diabetes know to keep glucose monitors nearby to check their blood sugar levels, but family pets trained in Franklin could help in those busy times when sugar levels suddenly change.
"The lower it goes, it becomes very dangerous. They can go into a coma and die," said Ann Walling, with the Borderland Diabetic Alert Dog Program.
Walling started the program this past summer at her Franklin farm to work with diabetics to train their dogs in detecting dangerous hypoglycemic episodes.
Walling trains the dogs by first collecting swabs and T-shirts with saliva and sweat samples from diabetics when their sugar levels drop below 70. The distinct scent diabetics put off during those sugar lows is first introduced to the dogs in their crates at dinner time, then again as part of a game and eventually the scent is planted on the owner's body for the dog to react.
Clickers and treats are used to reinforce the dogs' behavior.
"The dogs will catch it when it is in the low 60s or high 70s when it is on the way down, so they can take a quick fix and it's not a big problem," Walling said.
Walling said two people in her inaugural program were alerted by their dogs before they even felt any effects of the sugar drop coming on. She said she knows those situations well, because her son is diabetic.
"The greatest fear for me was that in the night his blood sugar would go low, and I wouldn't know it. And he wouldn't know it, because he would be asleep," Walling said.
Walling said most family dogs can become diabetic alert dogs with proper training.
"You need a dog with a little bit of drive. A really laid back dog may be too laid back to be bothered to wake you up," she said.
The next 10-week program begins in two weeks.
For more information and an application for the Borderland Diabetic Alert Dog Program, visit: http://www.diabeticalertdogs-borderland.com.
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