We all know that dogs have senses far more intuitive than humans; they can identify smells up to 10,000 times better than humans.
It’s hard for us to get our heads around just how far dogs can sense a certain smell as our own sense of smell isn’t as powerful.
In the case of a dog called Hero, his sense of smell was put the test in a way nobody expected, proving that he really does deserve his name.
Sadie was born with Down syndrome and then three months later she was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.
In order to detect when Sadie’s blood sugar levels are dangerously low her parents got trained diabetic alert dog Hero.
Ever since, this clever Labrador has kept this sweet girl safe whining when he senses that Sadie’s blood sugar levels have got too low or too high by a smell that’s emitted by the body when those changes happen.
A couple of years ago that amazing sense of smell was put to the ultimate test, in a way that left Sadie’s parents shocked to the core.
Hero started whining
Sadie was in class at her school five miles away from the family home when Hero, who was home at the time, started whining.
“He’s normally a very quiet dog. Whining is not in his protocol. But he just started whining and he would not stop,” mom Michelle Brooks told KUTV News.
Michelle was puzzled and first dismissed the idea that it could be related to Sadie, given that she was miles away, but called the school just in case.
The teacher tested her blood sugar levels and they were fine, then 30 minutes after Sadie went down, her teacher said.
‘Senses beyond our understanding’
Hero’s trainer KC Owens was shocked by Hero’s sense of smell.
“I can’t explain it. I think it’s like mother’s intuition. These dogs have abilities and senses beyond our understanding,” she said, according to Metro newspaper.
In a Facebook post mom Michelle explained that she too was baffled by Hero’s response.
“We were nervous to do the story because we didn’t want to give the impression that all dogs alerts long distance. They don’t. We didn’t want to appear like we were making crazy claims about our dog’s ability.
“While we can’t and won’t even try to explain how this happens, we feel blessed. Even without the long-distance alerts, he is amazing!”
Even though most of us cannot explain what Hero did, it’s truly amazing and he clearly helped to keep Sadie safe despite her being miles away.
Please share if you also think dogs are amazing.