A special bond

Pascal’s Wolf

Pascal Barron and his strapping 4-year-old German shepherd named Wolf have a special relationship. And it has nothing to do with frisbees, tennis balls or protecting the family home.

Like me, Pascal is a Type II diabetic, which means his blood sugar levels can rapidly plummet. I came to understand that that kind of unpleasant event matters after passing out in a Fayetteville Mall store one afternoon after my elevated sugar level suddenly and unexpectedly bottomed out.

So it's important for Pascal, who's 85, to know when his sugar levels drop during his active hours.

Which brings me back to his relationship with Wolf. It took the personable man a couple of months, but he patiently trained the 110-pound pet to recognize the scent of his dropping blood sugar level and to nudge Pascal with his wet black nose when it fell below 70.

As unlikely as it might seem on the surface to picture a dog knowing when his master's sugar level is dropping, then acting on it, Pascal says their relationship has been working perfectly.

Pascal said he learned dogs can be trained to detect the subtleties of high and low blood sugar levels in diabetics from a little paperback book called Training Your Diabetic Alert Dog by Rita Martinez.

"Wolf just turned 4 years old," said Pascal, who lives near the Lake Norfork Dam with wife Ruby. "I started training him with scent samples when he was about 8 weeks old. It really wasn't all that difficult, but did take some patience and time."

It's not difficult to understand how a German shepherd can pull this off when you realize they have 225 million smell receptor cells in their noses, compared with about five million for humans. Bloodhounds have 300 million such receptors.

The most difficult part of the process for Pascal was collecting scent samples with cotton swabs from his body during periods he knew his blood sugar had dropped. The overt symptoms can be sweating, shakiness and confusion.

Using the swabs to wipe perspiration or take saliva samples during low-sugar periods, Pascal then put them in a sealed plastic container and stored them in his freezer.

Next, he began feeding Wolf at least once daily from a colander where he'd taped several of those cotton samples to the underside. The holes allowed his dog to associate the faint scent of Pascal's low-sugar condition with the pleasurable experience of food. A plastic bowl with holes cut in the bottom also does the trick.

Then, using treats, he transferred Wolf's recognition of the low-sugar-level scent into the act of nudging his leg whenever he detected it. "Food is the most motivating force for Wolf, kinda like Santa showing up at Christmas. He came to expect the treats I carried with me whenever he reacted correctly," said Pascal. "In his mind, he was thinking, hey, there's that smell again. I need me a treat!"

The next project, he added, will be to train his dog to recognize elevated blood-sugar levels, which can be more challenging in acquiring the necessary scent samples associated with that less obvious condition. "In a way, I'm still always learning about all this," he said. "But it can be done and I'm going to do it."

He recommended others wanting detailed information about diabetic alert dogs to take to the Internet like he did and discover just how much is out there. "There's much more than I ever thought," he said.

His diabetes was diagnosed five years ago following a heart attack. He said his son, who lives in Mississippi, is a more brittle Type I diabetic. "I plan to train a dog for him, too," he said.

Long retired from selling construction products, Pascal said he found Wolf from an ad published in the Mountain Home newspaper. "I'd always wanted a German shepherd, and he's turned out to be all I'd hoped for."

As with any service dog, Wolf had to be socialized to learn how to become friendly and docile around people. "He's with me whenever I feel I need him. That means I spent the most training time socializing him to all conditions involving human interaction. It wouldn't do any good if I couldn't always feel good about having him with me in public."

He said Wolf was nestled right beside him on a recent family trip to Disneyland, even on the rides they shared. "He enjoyed every minute," he said. I forgot to ask if Wolf got cotton candy and a corn dog.

The Barrons moved to the lake just south of Mountain Home about 10 years ago after regularly traveling from their former home in Memphis to enjoy fishing the White River. "We finally decided we loved the Ozarks and this region enough to build a home here. So we did."

Wonder how many other folks have had the same experience after a visit or two to God's Country?

------------v------------

Mike Masterson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Email him at [email protected].

Editorial on 09/18/2016

Upcoming Events