Our Labrador Baylor had diabetes. I gave him insulin shots before every meal. But he was very cooperative, and he never complained despite the pinch he must have felt every time.
At this stage in Baylor’s life Bronco, our Leonberger, had joined the family, and one day we witnessed what seemed like a miracle. Bronco started barking while looking at Baylor, then he intently looked at us, then he turned his head toward Baylor and started barking again. He did this a few times—not aggressively, but to get our attention. It became clear that Bronco wanted us to look at Baylor. I examined Baylor but saw nothing wrong at first. Then I looked again. This time I saw that his back legs were shaking slightly. It quickly got worse. His gait became wobbly, then within perhaps fifteen seconds he fainted. He had gone into insulin shock. We rushed him to the emergency clinic, where fortunately the doctors were able to revive him.
Having too much insulin in your blood can lead to having too little glucose/sugar. The insulin shock causes your body to become starved for fuel and it begins to shut down.
We didn’t know this at the time, but giving a dog sugar, or something sweet, can bring him out of insulin shock.
Bronco detected a problem with Baylor before we could see anything wrong. His warnings gave us that little bit of extra time we needed to save Baylor’s life. I still wonder what it was that Bronco noticed. Leonbergers have a very keen sense of smell, and people have told me that the dogs can smell when there’s something physically wrong with a person. We had never taught Bronco to detect insulin shock or any other condition. It was entirely his own instinct. This was one of the amazing superpowers Bronco had.
I can add that you can train dogs to warn their owners when their blood sugar drops.
To celebrate the one-year anniversary of the publication of my book I am lowering the price of the eBook version from $4.99 to $2.99. It will last until July 20. It is valid for Amazon, Barnes & Noble and many other places.
Finally, if you would like to learn more about the Leonberger book I wrote click here or here. All royalties are donated to the Leonberger Health Foundation International.
Leonberger Life 