Hero Dog

I have only had diabetes for 10 months now but i have had my female pitbull for 11 years. My brother's pit had puppies and i got the last one of the litter. I named her Jenniferlee, after that german shepherd from the movie "K-9" with Jim Blushie. The dog in that movie was named JerryLee and since i had a girl dog i changed it a bit. Anyways my dog has been with me prediabetes and while i was going through the symptoms and didn't know it.

Looking back she might have already been trying to warn me something was wrong with me but i do not remember her acting differently. After i was diagnosed and on insulin the strangest thing happened. I did not know that my blood sugar would drop super low in the middle of the night. So i thought i could just sleep all night long (why not my hypo symptoms would wake me). One night my Jenniferlee was acting crazy. She just wouldn't stop barking and whining. So i get up thinking she wants out but she will NOT go outside. I was upset and frustrated. But slowly i started to feel weird. So naturally i go check my BS. 43. At 2 in the morning my blood sugar was really low. I eat something and swear from then on to wake up in the middle of the night to ALWAYS check my BS.

7 months later, i am waking up in the middle of the night and checking my BS levels. Eating when i'm low and going back to sleep if its decent. But almost two weeks ago my dog starts acting crazy again around 2 in the morning. barking and talking like mad. I get up thinking again that she has to go outside but again she doesn't. After awhile i start to feel weird so i check my BS 43! i would not have made it another 1 and half for my alarm.

My dog is a hero. She could tell my BS was too low and that i needed to wake up NOW! She saved me twice and i love her all the more for that.

Does anyone with type 1 have a dog that wakes them up when their BS is low? i have a coworker who says their dog goes crazy when her husbands BS drops really low.

Some people actually have dogs that are trained "diabetes dogs" that are trained to detect when they have low blood sugar. A lot of people, even those without trained dogs, report that their pets will wake them up if they're low. My dog (who was barely trained to sit and stay, let alone trained as a professional "diabetes dog") would often lick me and paw on my back in the middle of the night when I was low. I definitely think some dogs just have a sense to know when something is a little off with their owners. Dogs are the best!