We’ve posted in the past that Luke has a sensitive nose, and that we’ve experienced times where he’s reacted when the kids were having low blood sugars. We’ve since been trying to work with Luke and the kids to help him train his nose. A favorite game of the kids (and the dog) is the give one of the kids a treat and have them hide. Luke is then given the task to find a specific kid. Luke has recently gotten pretty good at it and has been able to help us find mischievous toddlers that occasionally like to play hide and go seek with out letting us know first. So tonight we decided to give Luke a real challenge.

For the 4th our family went to the city park to watch fireworks and let the kids run around. We took some treats with us and then split up for a little bit making sure that Luke was distracted while the older boys went and played. The park was very crowded and there was numerous fireworks going off in the parking lot keeping Luke a little on edge. I have to admit that I was skeptical that our pooch would be up for a challenge like this let alone be willing to even respond to the command with all the extra smells and noises that were a part of the course. He responded. My wife gave Luke the command to find Mark. He immediately focused and worked his way through the crowd following the winding and confusing path that Mark, Ethan and I took to get to the other side of the park and in a short amount of time found Mark. I was amazed.

Though Luke has come along with some extra challenges, I find the benefit of having a disciplined animal with a keen senses and a real attachment to the  kids a true blessing, and I am less and less worried about him being able to help us with eventually being on alert at all times for low blood sugars.

Now if we can just get him to never have an accident in the house again… I might actually learn to love the thing.

http://www.diabetes.org/uedocuments/df-dog-feature-0308.pdf

Our son Ethan just had his fourth birthday, and received a thoughtful and creative gift from his “girlfriend” Karlee. She understands that we are training a dog that will (hopefully) be able to help the boys when they get sick. So, she built him an awesome robot out of tin cans- in case Luke doesn’t work. Ethan loves it!

The boys got sick, again, last week and Dallin (the baby yet to be put on cornstarch) has had crazy blood sugars. His blood glucose dropped down to 60 last week, so while we were treating it we had Luke come over to him. I gave the command “Luke, check” and then let him lick the baby’s feet which is something we normally don’t allow. All the boys had gathered for the drama, but Ethan bolted from the room, and quickly returned with Karlee’s robot. He carefully placed it next to his little brother and commanded “Robot, check! There Mommy, Dallin will be O.K.” Score one for Mr. Roboto.

The other evening Mark, Ethan and I went for a walk around our neighborhood. When we finally made it home, it was time for bed, bedtime snack, Jonny’s cornstarch, and to warm Dallin’s bottle. We put Luke in his crate, Mark and Ethan had started eating, and Luke freaked out. We decided to see what was wrong with him, so we opened the crate. Normally, Luke just sits there and waits for us to attach his leash. This time he bolted downstairs just like the first time he detected a low blood sugar. So, we tested Jonny first since it was time for his cornstarch anyway. He was fine. Then we moved on to Dallin- he needed to eat, but he was still in the upper 70′s. Then we tried Ethan, he was good. A little disheartened, we weren’t going to test Mark. After all, he’d been eating. We decided to anyway, just for good measure. Bingo! he was at 74 and since he’d been eating for a good 10 minutes, he must have been lower than that. Score 3 for Luke (he’s done this twice before).

Today Rebecca came over to help us train Luke. It was great! I can’t believe the stuff she can do with him. He still has a lot of work, but he’s doing a lot better than I was expecting him to by now. She did some set ups with him by placing food on the kitchen floor and then correcting him if he went for it. It only took a few tries before he was smart enough to want her praise more than the food. We also played hide-and-seek with the boys. She gave them a treat to hold and then told Luke to find that child. Needless to say, all the boys (including the four-legged furry one) want to play again.
After we brought the dog in from training outside, he bolted for the living room where Mark and Dallin were. The first reaction is to correct him, but he started acting hyper and spazzy in a really weird way. It’s difficult to explain, but it was different from just a dog that got too excited. I knew Mark hadn’t been eating very well today, and he’d been playing outside in the cold (both of which can drop blood sugar) so I decided to test him even though Luke wasn’t acting as crazy as he usually does when someone is low. Mark was fine, and Dallin still had another 30 min. before he was due for his next bottle. I went upstairs and got Jonny out of bed etc. But 10 minutes later, while Luke had calmed down a bit, he was still acting strangely. So we tested Dallin. Rebecca knelt on the floor with me, and Luke came over and started licking Dallin (which is usually not allowed) and nipping at Rebecca’s ear. Ya, weird dog. My dad joked that Luke must be jealous, but Dallin’s blood sugar turned out to be at 56, which means he was probably around the 75 mark when Luke started acting crazy in the first place. AAAHHH! We immediately gave Dallin dextrose to boost him, as well as his bottle, all the while letting Luke lick him and giving the command “Luke check” with a healthy dose of praise. I of course didn’t remember to give him a treat until after we got Dallin under control, but Luke seemed pretty happy with just the praise- and me finally getting the hint to take care of Dallin.

While he didn’t do a full scale “freak out” like he has when Mark and Ethan were low, I theorize, that is simply because Dallin gets to the 75 mark pretty much every 2 hours, so it isn’t that weird for him. He also knows that we’re more careful with how we let him interact with Dallin.

So… that brings the total score for Luke up to 4 (including the other two times) and Mr. Roboto 1. Well, at least the Robot is a cute decoration, and he doesn’t eat nearly as much as Luke.

I’ll start with reflecting on how we came to the decision that a dog was a good move for our seemingly already maxed out household. Every Sunday our family watches the show “Nature” on PBS. Last season we were watching the episode “Dogs That Changed The World” and were suprised to find a section on Medical Dogs. The story told of Delta, a German Shepard that is able to detect the changes in it’s owner’s body chemistry that occurs when he experiences low blood sugar levels. We of course started to think immediately of the benefits for a child with GSD and what the possibilities of having a dog trained and disciplined specifically for detecting the onset of hypoglycemia.

Over the next few months we began our research. We talked to trainers and breeders alike trying to determine if it was possible. The answers varied, but the overall conclusion was that if there was a detectable scent that the body produces when hypoglycemia start to kick in then yes, it was possible. We even found an organization based in California called Dogs4Diabetics that specializes specifically in training dogs to be companions for diabetic patients. Our immediate response was “Eureka!”, but we were disheartened to find out that they were only working with people in Northern California and would only train for diabetic patients. We however didn’t give up.

We found a local trainer that was willing to help us train a dog, but it seemed very iffy that he would be able to help the dog specifically target a response in low blood sugar and it would not be a cheap venture. So, we continued our research and questions. We also shared our idea with Dr Weinstein and he seemed optimistic and excited about the prospect. In fact, during our last visit to Florida we entertained the idea of adopting one of the GSD malteagle pups (that didn’t end up with GSD), but the breed didn’t seem ideal for what we were looking for.

We started to talk to the kids about the prospect of getting a dog-naturally, they were excited. We decided to set a goal to find a dog and started praying for help in finding one that could detect low blood sugars. To our surprise the boys were very diligent in keeping the request in their prayers.

Finally, in July, we came in contact with Paula DeVaney with Genesis Service Dogs (ya that’s GSD too), a local organization that raises labradoodles for various service dog organizations all over the country. Surprisingly, they knew of and had even donated to Dogs4Diabetics! Paula also had a litter of 13 newborn pups that would be ready to leave their mother the end of August. Ironically, it was the uncle of this litter that had been donated to Dogs4Diabetics. No doubt that if we were going to move forward with the decision to incorporate a dog into our family’s lifestyle this was the opportunity which we had been petitioning the Lord for, and working towards.

Since we would be raising the dog to be a service dog, Genesis Service Dogs allowed us to sign on as raisers for the dog with the option of having the dog donated to us if it all worked out. Again, another ideal situation for our family.

A few weeks before it was time to pick up the new puppy we started to attend weekly training and instruction on what we needed to do as a family to correctly condition the dog. Then the time came to pick up the dog. Our oldest son, Mark, being a Star Wars fan had finally decided on naming the dog Luke after contemplating the names Yoda and Chewbacca.

We brought the labradoodle home and he began to impress us immediately. He was rather well behaved for a new pup and took reprimand well. Despite the good behavior of the dog the load started to take it’s toll by Friday. Yet, we were given a glimpse of the possible benefit of sticking with it.

Our kids started to get sick and Ethan went to bed early. With the bustle of the day we didn’t think much of it. After the kids were in bed and the dog in his crate we heard Luke barking and acting very peculiar (he had to this point been very laid back and rarely barked). After a minute we decided we better see what was the matter. We opened his crate and he bolted out of the room and downstairs. He seemed flustered and disoriented. We weren’t sure what to make of it. We let him outside to relieve and took him back upstairs. He was still antsy and we wondered what had happened to cause the alarm.

Ethan then awoke and was in a cold sweat. We checked his sugars and they were at 40. We immediately began emergency procedures to get his blood sugar levels back into the safe zone. After we got Ethan’s blood sugar under control, Luke seemed to finally relax.

Of course, we are trying to be objective in working with Luke. We recognize that this episode could be a coincidence, but the experience has given us “a new hope” that Luke will be able to detect hypoglycemia. It also reminds us that God is blessing us in our efforts to take care of our children to the best of our ability.

This is a picture of our puppy from the same litter. I’m not sure what the other puppies look like, but I believe there are two brown ones and one black one left. (I reserve the right to be wrong).

Genesis Service Dogs of Boise, Idaho very generously donated this puppy to us. Not only did they give us an extremely intelligent and well behaved canine, but they are also donating their time and talent once a week to continue to train us and him. He has many very strict, yet important rules that we must follow, such as “no people food”, “no rough housing”, “only relieving on hard surfaces” etc. GSD (Genesis Service Dogs) is also letting us use their very expensive training equipment, as well as paying for all of his veterinarian services. The only thing we end up paying for is food. They are such compassionate people. Of course, there is no way to tell at this point if he will be able to detect hypoglycemia, but his uncle was raised by this group and eventually donated to Dogs 4 diabetics where he was successfully trained to detect low blood sugar, so I am full of hope.

We’ll keep the blog posted as to Luke’s progress.

Some are so cute, some are so ugly they’re cute, but either way, we love malteagles. These photos were taken of the puppies bred specifically for helping to find a cure for Glycogen Storage Disease. Dot (mom) was a carrier, given to Dr. Weinstein by Duke University. Last December she had darling little puppies- one of whom has Glycogen Storage Disease. To tell the GSD pup apart they painted her toenails red, hence her name, Lil Red. We were able to snag a few pictures of the puppies last May when we took our boys to visit Dr. Weinstein at the University of Florida. They are housed in a small room in the Veterinarian School and have 24 hour care. Lil Red’s blood sugar is tested frequently, just like our boys, and she is given her cornstarch through a tube, just like our GSD boys. Unlike our boys, however, they couldn’t place it in her stomach because she would scratch at it. You know you want to see where they did place it. Click here to see more GSD malteagle pictures.

So, it’s no wonder that I was very excited to hear from Stacy, another mom of GSD kids, in Utah the other day. Apparently Dr. Weinstein will be attending a conference in Salt Lake this fall, and she and Stephanie, mom of GSD type III kids, will be planning a mini Glycogen Storage Disease get-together and dinner while he’s in town. It’s still in the very early planning stages, but the dates will most likely be in the latter part of October in the Salt Lake City area. If anyone else would like to attend please e-mail me! We’re happy to meet all ages, all types.

We told Dr. Weinstein (www.glycogenstoragedisease.com) our woes and he offered to call the school on our behalf. He had a 20 minute conversation with the principal on the phone, came back into the hospital room and said “I just spoke with the principal. He’s a good guy and very reasonable. You won’t have any more problems with the school. I was ecstatic- yet slightly skeptical.

We had our son’s IEP meeting the following Monday. We didn’t have ANY problems with the school. He has an aide assigned to him and one other child with “redirect ional” needs. In retrospect, I think this arrangement will actually be better than a one-on-one aide. I hope it will make my son feel a little less conspicuous, while at the same time providing adequately for his needs. We will also be having a “training” meeting shortly before the new school year begins. The principal suggested that he and several other back-up people including the secretaries be taught how to administer cornstarch, test for blood sugar and how/ when to administer glucose.

For the first time in months I was able to drive by the elementary school and feel calm instead of nausea. How grateful we are. Thanks to Doctor Weinstein, I am no longer the “psycho mom whose kid can’t have ANY sugar is being treated with a home remedy of cornstarch of all things!”

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