You may have noticed a dog walking around campus this semester with computer science teacher Mrs. Cassandra, a type 1 diabetic. Her name is Chewie, and she is a service dog who helps Mrs. Cassandra monitor her blood sugar levels. The chocolate lab is less than a year old and is still working on mastering her job.
Trained by the Diabetic Alert Dogs of America Las Vegas, Chewie learned the difference between blood sugar scents through saliva samples sent in by Mrs. Cassandra. Her main objective is to identify when a diabetic’s blood sugar gets too high or drops too low.
“She basically just pops her head up, so you can tell when she smells it,” said Mrs. Cassandra, adding that the alerts often come “before I would consider my blood sugar too high or too low.”
Recently, Chewie has been learning that after she first alerts, she should wait for about 30 minutes before alerting for a second time.
While the dog is primarily focused on Mrs. Cassandra’s scent, she can sometimes alert other teachers and students around the school. As Chewie gets more training, though, she’ll eventually learn to only pay attention to her owner.
Although her canine companion is cute, Mrs. Cassandra wants students and teachers to “try their best to treat her like she’s not there because she’s looking for attention, and when someone tries to make direct eye contact with her, she might take that as an invitation, like, oh, pet me kind of thing.” Once her training phase is complete, Chewie will be able to accept lots of love from everyone.
When she’s not sniffing food in the cafeteria line or walking side by side Mrs. Cassandra in the hallway, Chewie sits in her dog bed in the classroom and has the chance to play with some of her toys as any other puppy would. There’s also a fenced in area right outside the STEM Lab for her to run around in and get her energy out during the day. At home, Chewie enjoys playing in her backyard, hanging out with Mrs. Cassandra’s kids, and, of course, sleeping.
Chewie is the perfect addition to our St. Pius X family, and she’s growing to love it more and more each day.
