Perceived Danger

On Monday, Izzy had a rough day. He was fine when I dropped him and Jack off at school and through music. When it was time for him to go back to class he was having no part of it. The teachers finally got him back into the class but he would not settle down. Jack's teachers called me to let me know what was going on. Thankfully my mom was off that day and she headed that way. In the short time that it took her to get there, one of Jack's teachers called again to tell me that Izzy was visibly shaking. I got more concerned and called Jon. I, then, headed that way. I thought that he was sick or got into something. When my mom got there, Jack and Izzy were sitting in the clinic. My mom called to tell me that Izzy was just fine. Jack's class had already gone to lunch and Jack was eating in the clinic. When I got there, I grabbed Izzy and headed down to the class to see if I could figure out what was wrong. He walked with me all the way to the class and I got him to go into the class but I could tell that something was wrong. He was very antsy and didn't want to be there. I did notice a new smell in the class when I walked in but didn't think much about it. When we got back to the clinic, I asked the nurse what Jack's blood sugar was and she told me that it had been dropping after music. I thought that Izzy was alerting and that is why he didn't want to go in the class. I also thought that the new smell might be overwhelming him. I asked my mom if she could take Izzy home. That afternoon I googled smells that dogs have an aversion to and one of the main ones is citrus. I talked with Jack's teacher and they told me that they had just placed new plug ins in the room that morning and they were Hawaiian breeze - which has citrus in it. We were able to put everything together and figure out what happened. Jack's blood sugar began to drop very quickly. One thing to know about the body and what scent it gives off for Izzy to know what to do - when the blood sugar is dropping, the body releases a sour smell and when the blood sugar is rising, the body releases a sweet smell. One thing that Jack had that helped diagnose his Type 1 diabetes was a sweet smell to his breath - that is also an indicator of DKA (diabetic ketoacidosis). When Jack and Izzy were nearing the class, Izzy could now smell the sweet smell of the air freshener in the classroom and it threw his brain into crisis mode. Izzy did not want Jack to go into that classroom because Izzy thought (now) that Jack was in immediate danger. The reason he was calm in the clinic was because Izzy knew that Jack was safe. Over the next few days Izzy began not wanting to go to the classroom. I talked with Bubba and that is when he explained to me that Izzy was associating the classroom with danger. Izzy loves Jack so much and wants to keep him safe at all costs. God amazes me that He allows this little yellow dog to have the where with all to perceive a danger that we as humans would not have done so.

Izzy has been with us for just over a month and he has already saved Jack's life a few times. Keep praying for Izzy as he is working through this perceived danger.

For now.