Quail, a highly trained English Labrador retriever, isn’t just a 15-year-old boy’s best friend.
The Diabetic Alert Dog also is Christian Poorten’s lifeline.
She demonstrated that about a week ago by sensing that Christian’s blood sugar was dangerously low and awakening him from a sound sleep.
“I love her like she’s another human, probably like a sister,” said Christian, a freshman basketball player at Paradise Valley High School.
“It’s really special that she can detect when it happens,” he said.
“I was definitely shaking and sweating. I didn’t understand what was going on.”
Terry Poorten, Christian’s mother, and Robyn Abels, executive director of Power Paws Assistance Dogs, are convinced Quail saved the boy’s life.
Abels said Christian’s blood-sugar level had plunged to 25 milligrams per deciliter.
“That’s dire trouble. You need help right away,” Abels said.
“The dog saved his life.”
Terry Poorten said Christian was taking a nap that day. She said she wanted to let him sleep, realizing he had played a lot of basketball.
But then, she heard the doorbell-like alarm that sounds when Quail pushes a button on the floor near Christain’s bed with her paw, letting everyone know his blood sugar is low.
“When she pressed it, I thought, ‘I hope she’s right,’” Poorten said.
Poorten said she will never question Quail again after finding her son in trouble. She immediately gave him some orange juice to boost his blood sugar, and Christian gradually recovered.
“She pretty much saved him,” Poorten said.
Quail also is trained to bring Christian his meter, to bring him a box of orange juice and to sit up whenever she senses he has low blood sugar.
Quail went to school with Christian every day when he was in eighth grade. The dog accompanies him to basketball games and orchestra, where Christian plays the viola.
Christian was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when he was 5 years old and injects insulin several times a day.
“It’s a great comfort for me” to have Quail on alert at all times, Terry Poorten said.
Abels said Power Paws has placed about 10 Diabetic Alert Dogs, which cost $22,000 each because they require two years of training.
She said customers pay $6,000, and the remainder comes from donations to the non-profit corporation.
In all, Power Paws has placed 73 dogs since it was founded in 2001, with the other dogs helping people with mobility and hearing impairments.
A dog must be at least 80 percent accurate before it is placed with a diabetic person, which is about the same accuracy as a meter, Abels said.
But she said the dogs have been nearly 100 percent accurate, even though it is unknown what chemical they detect with their noses.
The dogs also pick up the low-blood-sugar reading about 20 minutes before a meter, Abels said.
“It made me cry and have tears,” Abels said of hearing Christian’s story through a volunteer with the program. “This is what they (the dogs) are supposed to do.”
~ Courtesy of AZ Central
Tags: diabetic alert dog, dog saves boy
