Assistance Dog Molly

[Boronia]

A good story.

Good Dog Molly

http://www.abc.net.a...assroom/6543942

Assistance dog Molly trained to detect when twins' glucose levels become unstable during class

By Ruby Cornish

Updated

Photo: Service dog Molly regularly attends Hannah and Olivia Weber's year two classes. (ABC News: Ruby Cornish)

In a first for Canberra's public schools system, two girls living with type 1 diabetes and anxiety have been allowed to bring their assistance dog into the classroom.

For seven-year-old twins Hannah and Olivia Weber, having silky terrier Molly by their side at Ainslie School could mean the difference between life and death.

Molly has been specially trained to detect when either of the girls' glucose levels becomes unstable, and to calm them down when they become anxious.

"We used to get a lot of 'Olivia and Hannah aren't coping very well at school' because of their anxiety," their mother, Adrienne Cottell, said.

When she approached the school's principal, Kate Chapman, about allowing Molly to attend, Ms Chapman was navigating uncharted territory.

"There wasn't a lot of advice to be had in the [education] directorate, though everyone was willing," she said.

"We felt very positive about it, but we started slowly."

Molly began attending the school a few hours each day, and immediately showed her value as a service dog.

On the third day, she alerted Hannah's teacher to dangerously low blood sugar levels.

"Hannah is hypo-unaware, which makes her condition dangerous," Ms Cottell said.

Molly will soon become a full-time presence at Ainslie School.

Demand for assistance dogs rising

Molly manages Hannah and Olivia's anxiety with the help of Mind Dog, an organisation that specialises in training psychiatric help dogs.

Photo: Molly has been specially trained to cope with busy school life and monitor the twins. (ABC News: Ruby Cornish)

They provide the certification that allows Molly access to public areas.

Board member Janelle Norton said since Mind Dog started in 2011, the demand for its services has steadily grown.

"We have assistance dogs in every state and territory in Australia," she said.

As the conditions assistance dogs can help with expands, and as awareness about them grows, more people have been seeking them out.

"We are getting increasing numbers of people applying, and we have to close off applications quite often," Ms Norton said.

Photo: Molly has been specially trained to cope with busy school life and monitor the twins.(ABC News: Ruby Cornish)

[meggie]

What a great good news item. No end to canine talent ...

Here's another diabetes assistance dog that I met on a bus to Melbourne - a lovely & well travelled boy with his own F/Bk page: http://www.pfd.org.a...dited-dogs/devo

And yes, we bought his book.

[mita]

Lovely stories. Thanks for posting!

[persephone]

:D

[Pattycake]

What a great story, as the mother of a Type 1 diabetic daughter ( now 23) she was diagnosed at 11, I used to feel so bad for ones with younger children as at least at 11 she was able to know when she was Hypo-ing most the time, though I could usually tell before she could just by her behaviour.

[BarbedWire]

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Edited June 15, 2015 by sarsaparilla

[_PL_]

Mr Powerlegs was showing me that last night :love: :love:

[Katdogs]

That's really brave and clever of the school. Imagine the paperwork involved!