Peanut-sniffing dogs help the severely allergic
To drugs, explosives, fleeing criminals, oncoming seizures and even cancer, add peanuts to the list of what dogs are saving lives by sniffing out.
About a dozen dogs in the country have been trained to detect the presence of peanuts, and protect their owners from serious allergic reactions.
One of them, Rock’O, a Portugese water dog, is safeguarding a Colorado girl named Riley Mers, 8, whose allergy to peanuts is so severe that contact with them could send her body into shock within minutes.
“It might look to you like it’s a kid playing with a dog,” Riley’s mother, Sherry, told ABC News. “To me, that’s a dog that’s saving my daughter’s life while they’re playing.”
“Training a peanut allergy dog to sniff out peanuts is much like training a dog to do narcotics or bomb sniffing,” said Tina Rivero, head trainer of Angel Service Dogs in Monument. “It’s just a different scent that they are hitting on. Instead of the marijuana or the cocaine or the bomb, they are actually finding the peanut.”
Having Rock’O along — even at school — means Riley no longer has to wear gloves, or ask classmates if they had peanut butter for lunch.
Upon detecting peanuts Rock’O sits in his “alert” position — a stance he’s been trained to make to let Riley know that he’s found something she should avoid.
“I can actually go to the mall. I can actually go to bowling alleys,” Riley said said. “I’m wanting to go to college, and I’m going to be able to.”
Posted by jwoestendiek March 6th, 2009 under Muttsblog.
Tags: allergic, allergies, allergy dog, angel service dogs, bombs, colorado, detecting, detection, dog, drugs, explosives, monument, peanut, peanut butter, portugese water dog, reactions, riley mers, sniffing
