Can Dogs Detect Diabetes? British Researchers Investigating

Researchers at Queens University in the United Kingdom are looking for volunteers for a study of diabetic people who own dogs. The goal of the study is to determine scientifically whether or not dogs can detect diabetes in their owners.

The study will be conducted by Dr. Deborah Wells and by Dr. Shaun Lawson, from the School of Psychology at Queens and the University of Lincoln, respectively.

The scientists are looking for 100 volunteers. They would also like to see any video footage that the dog owners might already have of the dogs responding to their owners' diabetic states in any way. They are especially interested in footage of the dogs reacting to low blood sugar levels in their owners.

There is folk knowledge that supports the idea that dogs have this ability, sometimes being able to predict when episodes of low blood sugar will occur. However, there is very little scientific data to support these claims, so the scientists are hoping to collect data that will confirm or refute these stories.

In spite of the lack of information there are people in the United Kingdom attempting to train dogs to detect these blood sugar levels. The research should assist them in doing this.

Assuming that dogs can do this, and that the scientific community can prove that they do, medical science should be able to develop artificial means to sniff out blood sugar levels. It is believed that the dogs literally can smell what is going on in the blood. The new system would be called an "electronic noninvasive alert system." It would essentially operate as and electronically powered sniffer.

The videotape will be studied to see just how dogs react when blood sugar levels vary. It will also be studied to see how different dogs react, and whether or not there are similarities in the way that they react. Another important question is how reliable are dogs at detecting these changes.

Dogs, and other pets, for that matter, are taking on a bigger role in health-care systems today. For example, it is well known that dogs reduce peoples' stress levels. For that reason they are often taken to nursing homes and hospital settings to calm down patients. Many nursing home residents have begun to recover from various disabilities because of the warmth and familiarity of the dogs. The dogs can often provide the warmth and companionship that the nursing home staff does not have the time to provide because of cost cuts and under staffing.

Dogs have even been able to increase the ability of children to learn how to read. This is accomplished by having the child read to the dog. Children lose their fear of reading out loud because the dogs are very accepting and they are not judgmental.

Dogs and Diabetes, Queens College