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NewsLife SaverDec, 2008
Splyfyr Spirit Moves Me, Bonny, is a very
special Chinese Crested Dog, Powder-puff. He has a wonderful gift for
alerting people with Diabeties to changes in their blood glucose level. He
is known as a Diabeties Hypo-Alert Dog and is the first in South
Australia.
Bonny was introduced into my life by a
charitable, non-profit organisation called Paws for Diabeties (PFD)
www.pfd.org.au. PFD is a group of
volunteers who place dogs with people who have Diabeties (usually Type 1).
The dogs are trained to alert their owners to dangerous hypoglycaemic
episodes (low glucose levels,also called hypos).
Most of the time, the dogs naturally alert,
and it is necessary for the human to learn to read their dogs specific
clues.
Type 1 Diabeties used to be called Juvenille
Diabeties, or Insulin Dependent Diabeties. It is not the same as the later
occurying Type 2. Type 1 occurs when an autoimmune response causes the
body to destroy insulin-producing cells within its own pancreas. After
this occurs, the condition needs to be controlled with insulin injections
or an insulin pump plus frequent blood glucose monitoring. Tight glucose
control is needed to prevent diabetic complications which may end in
kidney faliure, blindness, heart disease, and foot\leg amputation.
However, the price of tight control means that everyday, people with Type
1 run the risk of their glucose dropping too quickly (a hypo). Usually a
Type 1 can tell they are having a hypo by various symptoms like sweating,
shaking, confusion, blurry vision, hunger and irritability. Once a person
knows they are hypo, they can treat it with a sweet drink or some lollies
or even table sugar. Unfortunatley, not all hypos are detected in time,
and the person with Diabeties may have a seizure or fall unconscious and
even die. A hypo-alert dog will warn its human companion usually before
the hypo becomes severe, so it is treated quickly before the situation
deteriorates.
I got Bonny when he was eight weeks old and he
formed a very strong bond with me. I carried him with me everywhere I went
inside my jacket so he would get used to my scent and behaviour. By 10
weeks, he had started alerting me to low blood sugars, minutes before I
would feel the symptoms. Now he also alerts for high glucose levels. This
has resulted in better glucose control, my glucose averages are the lowest
they have ever been in over 20 years of Diabeties.
Bonny had to pass various tests set by the vet
and animal behaviourist of the Dog and Cat Management Board before we were
issued with our Disability Dog card. Bonny is allowed to accompany me into
public places like resturants, shops and the libary. These rights are
protected by the Discrimination Act. Disability dogs are to be treated
like guide dogs for vision-impaired or hearing-impaired people, and not to
be patted while they are working. In other Australian states, Disability
dogs are called Assistance dogs or Service dogs. Bonny practises regular
Obedience training at Dover Gardens Kennel and Obedience Club (www.doverdog.org.au)
on Sunday mornings as well as learning special skills with me at home and
in the community, which he needs to demonstrate when we are in public. In
April, when he turned two we sat for an exam called the Public Access
Test, which checked that he can concentrate on my needs in public while
handling strange noises, unusual sights and excited people. You might see
us out and about together, with Bonny wearing his special green coat
emblazoned with the PFDF logo. The mechanism by which these dogs alert
people to hypos is not fully understood, but one theroy is that dogs can
smel the release of adrenalin that we know accompanies the decrease in
glucose. We have heard many times that dogs can "smell fear" which is
usually associated with adrenalin too.
Bonny's alerting behaviour ranges from chewing
my hand, unusual whining and distressed barking. If it happens in training
hje is usually difficult to handle. If the hypo happens in the night he
will bark until I wake up. On some occasions I have been too deeply asleep
to be roused and he has climbed on me and pawed persistently untilI woke
to treat myself.
Some people might find it difficult to
distinguish alerting from needing the toilet, or dismiss it as the dog
being naughty and punish him for it.This would stop the alerting quickly.
Alerting has to be rewarded and praised for it to continue, just like any
behaviour we want to encourage in our dogs. The alerting dog needs to have
a well-trained owner!
Bonny is also the first dog in Australia to be
placed by PFD, so he's very special. Bonny has improved my confidence and
quality of life so much that I am healthier than I have ever been in
several years. Well done Bonny! And thank you to PFD and the Dover
community for supporting us.
Magali Chauvet.
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