There are few things that move me more than the stories in which there is such a special connection between children and dogs. These authentic four-legged heroes assume a protective role over children, and even more so when they have some kind of deficiency. As if they had to be more attentive.
I present to the protagonists of the story: Sadie Brooks is a 4-year-old girl who has type 1 diabetes and Down syndrome and Hero is his labrador dog trained to perceive variations in sugar levels through his strong sense of smell. One day, Sadie went to school like every day and Hero, who was at home 8 kilometers away, he was able to detect a worrying drop in his sugar levels.
Hero is able to detect variations in Sadie's sugar levels. If they are very high, he complains by raising his right leg and if they are very low, he does so by raising his left leg.
One day in December, Sadie had attended her special education classes at Deerfield Elementary School, in Cedar Hills, 8 miles away at home, and Hero began whining in a way he had never done before. The girl's mother, Michelle, realized that Hero's whining meant something of concern and decided to call the school to check her daughter's sugar levels.
The teacher did it and the levels were fine, however half an hour later they dropped from 122 to 82, endangering diabetic coma to the girl.
With hundreds of millions of olfactory receptors, trained dogs can detect the smell produced by chemicals in advance of the technology up to about 3 kilometers away, experts say. But Hero seems to have a special gift and a very close bond with his owner, a true guardian angel for the little girl.
