Kindergartener receives diabetic alert dog

On Friday, five-year-old Dylan Cochran of Warner Robins was introduced to her diabetic alert dog, Benny. Cochran has Type 1 Diabetes, a condition in which her body does not produce insulin, allowing her blood sugar to fluctuate to dangerous highs and lows. Because of this, Cochran’s blood sugar must be checked many times a day, and Benny the Labradoodle’s induction to the family will likely be a game changer.

Benny was provided by Diabetic Alert Dogs of America, a company out of Las Vegas, NV., which puts dogs through six to 12 months of training in a specific way—Benny was trained specially to Cochran’s saliva. “When her blood sugar was in certain ranges … we would mark the little jar and she would soak them [cotton balls] in spit,” said Cochran’s mother, Whitney Cochran. “And then I would have to freeze them and overnight them to [Las] Vegas so that they could use her scent to train this dog.”

Benny, can sense changes in Cochran’s blood sugar levels through the hormones she emits. When he smells the levels are not within a safe range, he is trained to alert the situation by sitting and raising his paw to indicate a problem.

“Benny can actually tell you about your blood sugar before it actually happens,” said Marissa Johnson, Benny’s trainer. According to Johnson, the dogs can detect an unsafe fluctuation 20 to 40 minutes before the current technology. “The dogs can actually tell you that it’s changing in your body. The dog can tell you before you see it in your blood sugar meter.”

While Benny is a Labradoodle, there are many dogs that can be trained as diabetic alert dogs, however, Diabetic Alert Dogs of America takes many steps to match the right dog with the right owner.

“When we pick out dogs, we look at their body language,” said Johnson. For example, Johnson says that they can tell when a dog is really confident as opposed to others being really mellow.

The matching process is detailed, asking applicants to detail their daily life’s routine and personality. “They’re looking for a dog that’s going fit in well with your family,” Whitney said. The process and dog are not covered by insurance. The family opened a Go Fund Me page to raise the $15,000 needed.

“We never would have been able do it without help. We raised right at, I want to say around $9000, which was enough to get him home thankfully, and we’ll be paying on the dog for the next two years.” Whitney said.

Cochran was diagnosed in January of 2018, at the age of 3. “I thought she had a UTI [Urinary Tract Infection],” Whitney said, “She kept wetting the bed.” When the cause was discovered, Cochran was admitted to the hospital for a week.

“A lot of kids, when they first get diagnosed, their blood sugar is so high for so long they go into DKA which is Diabetic Keto Acidosis,” Whitney said, “she didn’t have any of that, we were very lucky, [we] caught it very early. I just think that this is going to be a big source of comfort for her,” Whitney said. “Dylan doesn’t like being the kid with diabetes, but now she gets to be the kid with the cool dog.”

Benny’s abilities are likely to bring a peace of mind to the family. Whitney said she was skeptical of the dogs until she researched the topic. “People say that these dogs have saved their children’s lives genuinely.” Whitney said. Johnson says she has seen the results of the training, “People’s lives have changed because of this, there’s nothing better than that.” Johnson says clients can see changes in A1C tests after receiving their dog, citing the dog’s ability to alert their owner, “They’re able to then do something about it and not have those high blood sugars, the same with low blood sugars.” Within minutes of meeting Cochran, Benny accurately alerted to Cochran’s blood sugar levels.

If you are interested in donating to Diabetic Alert Dog (D. A. D.) for Dylan, Whitney says you can visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/dad-for-dylan

For more information on Diabetic Alert dogs of America, visit https://www.diabeticalertdogsofamerica.com