Normal Dogs Reacting to Blood Sugars

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#1

I know Diabetes Alert Dogs are all the rage right now however I am curious to know if anyone else out there has experienced their normal pet dog reacting to their diabetes. My boyfriend's parents have a dog who many years ago when I has experiencing a rather high blood sugar reacted and starting whining and wouldn't leave me alone. Now I have my own dog, an American Bulldog/Collie mix, who is 2 years old and has started showing signs of being anxious when my sugars aren't quite right. It could be either a high or a low sugar but he will even from a dead sleep get up come look at me start acting nervous and either lay down next to me or if I am up moving around the apartment he will follow me around closely enough that he has to be touching me. The longer I go ignoring how he's acting the more nervous he will get and has gotten to the point of barking at me for ignoring him.

If my blood sugars are fine he doesn't act anything like this. Its almost like a he-knows-but-he-doesn't-know-what-he-knows situation. I don't think its anything we could train him on since he doesn't know what is making him nervous and its not every single time. Just curious if anyone else has situations like this.

#2

My little pet Wendy, a mini Wire-haired Dachsie, slept next to me in a crate with an open door. She began barking at odd times during the night and I thought she wanted outside. Of course while I was up, I tested. I came to realize she was barking whenever my blood glucose was either high or low. when she had a diminished sense of smell, she stopped barking at me. Then our young Golden Retriever, Aggie, would run over to Wendy's crate, bang on her crate and bark at her to get up and alert me!

#3

That's awesome! Happy you have each other! Dog's are very sensitive and loving souls.

#4

This is actually not uncommon. Several people have posted similar stories here on TuD about "ordinary" dogs who do this. And the couple who run our local D support group have one too.

#5

He did it again just yesterday when I got home. I was in the 300's and he knew it well before I did. Now if only we can find a way to solve the fact that his alert actions involve getting as much of himself in my lap as possible and he weighs about 91 pounds... he gets heavy after a while.

#6

You might find some useful information about training your dog to alert appropriately http://www.tudiabetes.org/group/diabetesalertdogsin our Group:

#7

And a footnote: some dogs are good at early detection of both highs and lows. Don't know whether your dog does this, but some definitely do.

#8

Thanks Trudy!