Puppy Love: Can Canines Sniff Out Serious Trouble?
by james s. hirsch
My son wants a puppy. Whenever he sees a one, he gravitates toward it and pets it behind his ears and under his neck. The instant affection and love – between a gentle nine-year-old boy and a grateful canine – is moving. I’ve never owned a dog and can’t say I ever wanted one. My wife is even more indifferent about anything with four legs. But Garrett and his older sister, Amanda, have been lobbying hard for a puppy, and we are now giving serious consideration to adopting a cream-colored cockapoo.
Cockapoos are said to be hypoallergenic. But the real question is – can a cockapoo help with hypoglycemia? Both Garrett and I have type 1 diabetes, and, while it may seem preposterous at first blush, the issue of dogs detecting low blood sugar has been gaining serious attention. New technologies, of course, are doing just that, but you can’t hug a continuous glucose monitor.
Mark Ruefenacht believes dogs can sniff out hypoglycemia. Ruefenacht has type 1 diabetes, and some years ago, he was training dogs for the blind when he was on a trip to New York. He was traveling with a training dog, and, according to Ruefenacht, his blood sugar dropped after he had fallen asleep. The dog noticed and nudged him frantically until he awoke. The animal saved him, and Ruefenacht believed that other dogs could be taught to detect low blood sugars as well, so he founded Dogs4Diabetics in Concord, California, in 2004. The motto: “Our dogs save lives.”
I wanted to learn more about the organization and initially read the web site and several attached articles and also viewed a video promotion. Ruefenacht uses black and yellow labs that don’t graduate from guide dog school – they refuse to walk in the rain, for example, or step onto an escalator. The articles and the video quoted several diabetic customers who affirmed that the dogs had indeed alerted them to their lows.
Exactly how the dogs detected low blood sugars was rather sketchy. Dogs have superior olfactory senses, which allow them to smell things that humans can’t. According to the news stories, Ruefenacht believes that hypoglycemic patients emit some chemical or compound that dogs can smell but humans can’t – it’s “undetectable,” according to the organization’s program director. We don’t even know what this chemical is.
Various news stories described how the dogs were actually prepared to detect lows: The trainers lined up several buckets and somehow replicated this hypoglycemic smell in one of them. The dogs were taught that that was the smell to respond to, and they were instructed to bite a black cloth pouch hanging around their neck. (Barking or nuzzling wouldn’t work as a low-blood sugar alert, because that’s what dogs do normally.)
It seemed kind of odd to me. I don’t doubt the intelligence of any dog, but if humans don’t know what the hypoglycemic chemical is and can’t see it or smell it, how can humans replicate it to train dogs? I emailed Ruefenacht and asked if I could interview him. I also asked if I could speak to some of his clients. He responded one day later and said he’d be happy to speak with me and share names of clients. He asked if I preferred to interview him by phone or email. I responded that email was fine, and I sent him off a list of questions, including one about how can you recreate something that humans can’t detect. I also asked how many customers had returned their dogs when they failed to detect a low.
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Ruefenacht didn’t respond. After about a week, I sent another email reiterating my questions, but no luck. Perhaps there’s a good reason, but as I write this, more than three weeks have passed, so I assume I won’t have my questions answered.
The American Diabetes Association hasn’t taken a position on diabetes assistance dogs, but an official told the Sacramento Bee, “Science has not yet proven the dogs are reacting to a change in body chemistry.”
But there is evidence that the dogs are reacting to something. Two years ago, researchers from Belfast, Northern Ireland, published the results of a study to determine if domestic, untrained dogs could detect hypoglycemia in their human caregivers. The study included 212 dog owners with type 1 diabetes, and 138 (64.2 percent) indicated that their dog had shown a behavioral reaction to at least one of their hypoglycemic episodes, with 31.9 percent of the dogs reacting to 11 or more events. To alert their owners, dogs variously barked, licked or nuzzled them, jumped on them, or stared at them. Some of the dogs’ reactions – trembling, running away, even hyperventilating – suggested fear. The researchers concluded that “behavioral reactions to hypoglycemic episodes… commonly occur in untrained dogs.” But they did not know what “mechanisms” were used to “perform this feat.”
The release of an unknown chemical is possible, but it’s also conceivable that overt hypoglycemic symptoms, such as trembling or sweating, would trigger a response from a dog. I know little about these animals, but I’ve heard any number of people talk about their deep emotional connection with their canine. If true, why wouldn’t the pet be tuned into the emotional and physical well-being of its loving owner? Whatever the science behind Dogs4Diabetics, the testimonies provided by the customers seemed legitimate.
Medical reasons should not be a primary reason for getting a dog– and they weren’t in our case. We did get Garrett his puppy, and we our now the proud owners of a fluffy four-month-old cockapoo. We’ve named her Kelsey, and on their first day together, Garrett ran around with Kelsey in the backyard, walked her, fed her, bathed her, brushed her, and in general smothered her with love. I am certain she will get to know Garrett well, and if she alerts us when Garrett’s blood sugar plunges, we’ll nominate her for Dog of the Year. But if she sleeps right through Garrett’s low, well, we’ll love her anyway.
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One of my favorite slogans: “Until there is a cure, there is Camp Joslin.”
Camp Joslin, which is in Massachusetts and serves boys with diabetes, has been in business for almost 70 years, and – like the Joslin Clinic in Boston – has been one of the most hallowed names in diabetes.
Camp Joslin recently announced that it’s been sold to the Barton Center, which runs a camp for diabetic girls near Camp Joslin. The purchase was funded in large part through a $1.5 million grant from the Leona and Harry Helmsley Charitable Trust.
I’m not worried about the future of Camp Joslin. The Barton Center has been operating Camp Joslin for the past two years, and the Helmsley Trust has been giving generously to all kinds of research projects for type 1 diabetes. I trust it would only fund this camp consolidation if it benefits the campers.
What does bother me is the plan to eliminate the name, “Camp Joslin.” There will be a one-year transition, and a new name will be given. A spokeswoman for the Barton Center said it was not its intention to change the name, but attorneys believed the continued use of Camp Joslin “could create potential legal issues.”
What are they afraid of – that Dr. Elliott P. Joslin is going to rise from the grave and sue Barton for erasing his name? The “Camp Joslin” name means so much to the thousands of boys, including Garrett, who’ve been fortunate enough to go there over the decades. This past summer, we met a family from North Carolina who sent their son there just because of its name and reputation.
It’d be nice to keep the name – and the slogan. Until there is a cure, there should be a “Camp Joslin.”
