Hero Dog Saves Diabetic’s Life

Clover is a golden doodle, and lives with the McKenzie family.  She had been with them for only eight days, and has already become a hero and life saver.

Clover is charged with watching over River McKenzie.  River is 6-years-old, and he is a diabetic.  Clover is a specially trained dog that helps warn River’s parents Matt and Bethany of complications with River’s condition.

Eight days into being with the McKenzie family, Clover proved to be worth her salt.  She left her spot next to River’s bed about 20 minutes after he was tucked in, padded into Matt and Bethany’s bedroom, and with a might SMACK of her paw on the ground, got their attention.

They got up and went in to check on River.  A quick check of his blood sugar levels, and they had dropped, significantly.

“It had dropped from 118 to 40,” said River’s mom, Bethany.  This is far below safe levels for a Type-1 diabetic.  “He was in a pre-seizure state.  He was shaky, and we couldn’t get him to come to.  He eyes were rolling back in his head and he was very sweaty.  So we gave him some juice, but he was unable to get his lips around the straw.”

Clover’s quick wits and sharp nose is responsible for saving River’s life that night.  It could have been an hour or so before Bethany would have gone into River’s room and check on him.  That would have been far too late to do anything for her son.

Clover is specially trained, and her sensitive nose can detect minute chemical changes that are occur in saliva.  It changes the scent of the person’s breath that are usually too difficult to detect by people.

Taylor Buckminster, Clover’s trainer from Heartland Diabetic Alert Dogs in Enid, Oklahoma said, “Dogs can smell those chemical changes.”  Science isn’t too sure on exactly why dogs can do this, but Clover seems to have done exceptionally well.

The way Buckminster explains it as, “A person can smell a cake baking.  A Dog can smell every ingredient in that cake.”

Bethany, Matt and River are all very grateful for Clover’s quick action, and sensitive sniffer.  Clover is a much loved member of the McKenzie’s, and it’s not at all difficult to see why.  Way to go Clover!