Medical Detection Toby

My sister Emily is a type 1 diabetic (since 4 years of age) and her detection dog (Toby) is especially trained to detect her varying blood sugar levels with his nose. As Emily is not aware of her sugar levels, she is not aware of when she is out of the ‘safety level range’, so she does not know when to take action to correct it (unless she constantly does blood tests with her needle). However, Toby knows when she is outside the safety range, because he can smell it! When he can smell her at these levels he alerts her by gently pawing her as his alert. When he is correct (most of the time) he gets a reward.

As Emily is now 26 weeks pregnant, Toby’s alerts are more important now than ever. He is the first Medical Alert dog to assist through a pregnancy. So this portrait is for Toby, as my way to show his pride and professionalism.

Thanks to Medical Detection Dogs for blessing my sister with Toby.