Dog of the Week

Echo

This is my golden retriever, Echo, and he'll be 11 this month. By following DogAge, and its tips to keep Echo healthy, Echo, after taking the DogAge Test is 41.9 years old, or 18.0 years younger than he's supposed to be.

He also may have saved me the other morning from going into anaphylactic shock. I'm a diabetic, and on that particular morning Echo started poking me with his paw. This is how he wakes me to let me know he has to go out. I looked at the clock and it was only 4:30 a.m. It was too early and I told him to lay back down and go to sleep. He kept on bugging me every 20 minutes or so, till I finally decided to get up around 6:00 a.m. When I awoke I was sweating, light headed, and felt like I was going to pass out. I gathered myself, and went to the back door to let him out. But Echo didn't go to the door, he went to the washroom, where I keep my diabetic supplies. I was starting to feel worse, so I decided to take my glucose level. When I did, it was dangerously low -- 1.1. Normal range is from 4.0–7.0. If I were to go any lower, I could pass out. Quickly, I drank a large glass of orange juice, and in a few minutes that raised my level to 3.8, almost normal. I know there are dogs who can predict when people are going to have seizures, cancer, or even when earthquakes are coming, but I had never heard of any other dog predicting a low glucose reading.

Echo is, and will always be, my "Dog of the Week."
--RS, Ontario, Canada