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"Throw
physic to the dogs!"
(says
Macbeth to the doctor who cannot cure his wife's disease.)
William
Shakespeare (15641616)
Macbeth act 5, sc. 3
LONDON (UK) and GAINESVILLE, FL (USA)
Add these to the list of things that your dog
has a knack for sniffing: low blood sugar and epileptic seizures (not
to mention that strange rotting material sitting by the side of the
road).
Persons who suffer from seizure disorders related to epilepsy or
blood sugar (diabetes) are getting the best medical advice from their dogs,
according to studies published in the British
Medical Journal, Diabetes
Forecast and at the University of Florida. Many ordinary
dogs (even those who have not received special training) possess the
ability to detect impending seizures and warn humans up to 15 minutes
before a life-threatening attack occurs.
These dogs, called "seizure alert dogs", have been used
for years, but only recently have they been receiving recognition as
service dogs and allowed by law to accompany their human
"patients" wherever they go. One such piece of
legislation, Florida's HB 1819,
is sitting on the desk of Governor
Jeb Bush awaiting his signature.
But now, for all you non-believers, let's take a look at a few
eye-opening cases:
Dog Smells Seizures,
Fetches Medicine, Dials Phone, Helps Deliver Baby
NORTH KENT (UK)
As reported in Saturday's Sun
Online, "Rupert" the wonder dog made it possible for
30-year-old Tony Brown-Griffin to regain the independence she thought
she had lost forever. A few years ago, Ms. Brown-Griffin began
having frequent epileptic fits, requiring her to be constantly
attended.
Her husband Dan was on the brink of giving up his career in order
to care for her, but instead they decided to bring a dog into their
lives (I could make a comment about who's better: a husband or a
dog... but I'll refrain for now).
Trained at the John Fisher Centre for support dogs in Sheffield,
Rupert not only could detect impending fits, he also would fetch
whatever medical items Tony required. In extreme emergencies,
the woman could signal by tapping the floor repeatedly, and Rupert
would run to the phone and press an emergency button to alert her
husband.
"He was brilliant at fetching and carrying," says Tony.
"He would run to get me the TV remote control or my inhaler.
He even loaded and unloaded the washing machine."
Rupert's crowning achievement came in 2000 when Tony, suffering
from complications during pregnancy, was taken to the hospital to
undergo an emergency Caesarian. The dog was allowed to accompany
the woman and continue to see to many of her medical needs.
"Paging Dr. Dog... Dr. Dog...
You are required in surgery."
(Photo: The Sun)
While the operation was in progress, Rupert was just on the other
side of the door. All went well, and Tony had a healthy daughter
named Grace. (I wonder if Rupert handed out bones in the waiting
room...)
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Either the Dog Has Gone Nuts, Or I'm
About to Have a Sugar Crash
Even some dogs who haven't undergone special training show a natural
ability to detect and warn humans of critical conditions. Several
cases reported in the British Medical Journal highlight how dogs
have trained themselves to warn humans of hypoglycemia, a condition of low
blood sugar that in severe cases can cause coma and sometimes even death.
Candy's guardian has had type 2 diabetes since 1971 and began
taking insulin in 1979. Candy, a nine-year-old dog, has developed
the odd habit of running into the hall and hiding under a chair whenever
her human is about to have a low blood sugar reaction. (Hmm, Wags
does that, too... but only after I catch him tearing up the trash.)
Susie constantly monitors the blood sugar levels of a woman who
suffers from type 2 diabetes. The woman has as many as two low blood
sugar reactions per week, often at night. Seven-year-old Susie
senses the low blood sugar reactions even when the woman is asleep.
The dog will wake her up and not settle back down until the woman has
ingested carbohydrates. Or in the daytime, Susie will prevent the
woman from leaving the house unless her blood sugar has been brought to a
safe level by eating carbohydrates. (Again, Wags often does the same
thing... except that he prevents me from leaving until I've fed him
a load of carbohydrates.)
How Do They Know?
Last week, ABC
News probed into the phenomenon of seizure-sniffing dogs.
Although scientists have proposed some good theories, the bottom line is
that we simply don't know how they do it.
Dr. Roger Reep, a neuroscientist in the College of Veterinarian
Medicine, University of Florida, conducted an extensive study four years
ago. He theorizes:
"What I suspect is happening that cues these dogs is a change in
the person's body odor that's triggered by nervous system activity.
Seizures result from electrical disturbances in the brain.
"When there's electrical activity going on in the brain that controls
the autonomic nervous system, that can affect how your body smells. Dogs
have a sense of smell 300 times better than humans."
Dr. Reep believes that dogs may smell a change in their owner's body
odor that is undetectable to humans before the seizure strikes. What
appears to be crucial for this to occur is a tight bond between the owner
and the dog.
Medical Alert Dogs Are Not Trained;
They Learn on Their Own
Some organizations teach alert dogs how to communicate and interact with humans, but these organizations stress that the ability to detect
seizures cannot be taught, simply because no one knows how to teach it.
"There is no way at this point for us to know to what stimuli the
dogs are responding," cautions Jennifer Arnold, the director of
Canine Assistants in Alpharetta, Ga. "Therefore, it's impossible for
us to artificially recreate that in order to train them to actually be
able to anticipate onset of an episode."
Basically, these organizations socialize puppies with people known to have seizures. As these puppies develop
("training" lasts about 18 months), canine specialists note which dogs
exhibit a certain type of behavior preceding the symptoms of a
seizure. Ms. Arnold says that this occurs in almost half of the
dogs.
Again, she emphasizes that the most important factor in the dog's
sensitivity is a strong bond with the person.
So the next time your pooch starts acting up for no apparent reason, listen to
your dogtor. Although in the case of Wags, I think I'll need a
second opinion.
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