Franklin Trainer Sees Lifesaving Potential of Family Pet

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Leo Mackey with dad Steve and dog Teddy receive instructions as part of the inaugural diabetes alert dog class at Borderland farm in Franklin. Image courtesy Tom Mason

More than a decade ago, the British Medical Journal found that dogs were giving subtle signals before their diabetic owners experienced a drop in blood sugar. It’s a skill that breeders now charge top dollar for. A dog trainer in Franklin sees potential in the family pet too.

Canine agility training is Ann Walling’s specialty. Her farm in Franklin – called Borderland – has a spacious warehouse, carpeted with AstroTurf and scattered with hoops and hurdles. But the retired Episcopal priest is shifting focus.

“Millions of people have diabetes,” she says. “So if we can develop a program that’s affordable, it certainly would be wonderful for my son.”

Walling’s grown son still depends on insulin and glucose to stay alive. Type 1 diabetics can have dangerous – occasionally fatal – crashes in blood sugar that sneak up on them. Nights are the worst, Walling says, especially for parents of a diabetic child.

“That’s when they worry the most, because they’re afraid they’ll sleep through a dangerous low,” she says.

Glucose levels have been a constant concern for Steve Mackey since his nine-year-old son Leo was diagnosed with diabetes.

“There are times when we’ll go in in the middle of the night,” he says. “He’s only had it for three years and it’s still something we’re worried about.”

Glucose monitoring can’t catch every high or low, and diabetics can eventually get desensitized to the warning signs of nausea or shakiness that accompany blood sugar swings. Researchers still haven’t fully explained why dogs are tipped off early, but they figure it has to do with scent that the body puts off.

Mackey knew about alert dogs, but he also knew that he couldn’t afford the $20,000 price tag. In recent years, “train your own dog” programs have popped up. One in Seattle teaches through a series of YouTube videos. But even the high-priced breeders use the same disclaimer – a dog is no substitute for a glucose monitor.

Teddy is tall with long, brown hair and green eyes. Looks like a Labrador mix, but who knows. The Mackeys picked him up at the pound, and he’s showing great promise.

“When he smells the scent that’s running through my body – kind of – then he knows he’s going to get a treat,” Leo Mackey says.

The goal is to refine the signal as to be unmistakable. At this point, Teddy just goes crazy like he wants to play fetch. The Mackeys think they’ve gotten their first signal, but they’re not sure.

For now, Teddy is perfecting his scenting. Leo holds cotton balls in each fist. One was soaked in his mouth during a recent sugar low. Teddy nuzzles the correct hand, and Leo hugs the neck of his potential lifesaver.

The plan is for Teddy to go to middle school with Leo. Many insulin dependent diabetics will take their alert dog to college too, when a parent is no longer around to keep an eye on blood sugar.

Participants in the inaugural Borderland diabetes alert dog training class gather a final time. Image courtesy Tom Mason

Walling says Teddy is the “most improved” of those dogs in the pilot class. But one owner discovered her pooch probably won’t cut it, after 7-weeks of classes.

The high-dollar dogs flop too. A family in Texas has sued a breeder over a bum alert dog. The Attorney General in Missouri intervened in a similar case a few years ago.

Steve Mackey says he knows the limitations of any dog.

“Something like this, if it can work and it feels like it’s really going to, it’s just such a relief,” he says. “It’s not the answer, but it’s such an easier way to do life.”

And at hundreds – instead of thousands of dollars – Mackey says the train-your-own approach is worth the potential peace of mind.