Diabetic alert dogs, or DADs, for people who have diabetes, are growing in popularity across the country. The dogs work by reacting to smells that the body emits at different blood glucose levels. They can be trained to detect high and low blood sugar events before they become critical.

Service dogs can be instrumental for people who have dangerous low sugar events, to the point that people who traditionally could not manage to live alone can now do so without fear that they will be unable to respond to potentially deadly lows quickly enough.

Service dogs for individuals with diabetes require special training and are often costly. There are programs that can help qualifying individuals receive a diabetic alert dog for no out-of-pocket costs. There are non-profit organizations and community grants available that can mitigate some of the costs involved in obtaining a service dog for people who have diabetes. This makes the process marginally more affordable.

The dogs are not just service dogs that can save the lives of the people that they protect at all times. They are also loving animals that provide companionship and help to ward off the depression and sense of isolation that many diabetic patients experience.