New To Me: Dogs for Diabetics

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(Photo: At the beauty salon: Devin with her dog, Cody.)

I was having my hair done the other day when a young woman named Devin came into the salon with her dog. The dog, called “Cody,” looked like a service dog but Devin wasn’t blind. Turned out she was a diabetic, and the dog, as part of an innovative project, had been trained to “identify the subtle scent changes that hypoglycemia (low blood glucose) creates in body chemistry, changes undetectable to their human companions.”

What happens when your blood sugar is too low, I asked Devin. What does Cody do to alert you?

“Most importantly, at night, when I’m sleeping, and I’m at greater risk,” Devin told me, “Cody will jump up on the bed to wake me up.” She said, at other times, the dog will put his paw on her leg–he’ll do whatever needs to be done to get her attention.

Devin works in the City and lives in the East Bay–and she’s just crazy about Cody and the project called Dogs for Diabetics.

For information on this great project, please click here

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Great story about Dogs For Diabetes.  My ex-coworker volunteered at Guide Dogs and had mentioned the Dogs For Diabetes program to me.  She moved to Bend and was hoping to do volunteer work for that program.  She has a guide dog breeder, Alda.  Did you know some doctors use standard poodles to detect certain types of cancer.  A naturopathic m.d.,  in Mill Valley (or maybe it’s San Anselmo) has two that he uses for diagnosing.  It’s amazing.  My friend, Bill, who died of lung cancer told me every time he walked into the office the dogs would come up to him, nudge his legs, bark and then sit.

Lynn K. McCloskey

Email Lynn: [email protected]