Maizie
(Published October, 2008)

We first learned about Maizie from Sheri Jones of Wiener Tales. She was good enough to put us into contact with Karen Ann, Maizie's owner, and Karen Ann was good enough to send us the wonderful article that follows. Our thanks to both of them.

I'd be glad to tell you Maizie's story. She was quite a special little girl from the get-go.

Her breeder Neva Randall of Redrock Texas is a friend of mine. We met online about seven years ago. When Neva's Dachshunds Jasmine & Toby had their first litter I was not looking for a puppy. But the instant I saw pictures of Maizie I fell in love with her. Maizie was born November 16, 2005, with a deformed tail, so within days of birth her tail had to be amputated. So now she has a little bob-tail that makes her all the more endearing. When she wags that little stub the whole world seems like a happier place.

I live in New York, and had a trip planned to Texas in April 2006 to stay with a friend and attend the Buda Texas Dachshund Races as I'd done in previous years. Neva was planning to be there too. Neva and I had talked and emailed back and forth many times in the months following Maizie's birth, and somewhere along the line I decided I just had to bring Maizie home with me. So, Neva began calling her "Maizie' for me, and telling her all about her new family she'd be going home to in New York.

The first time I held Maizie that day at the Buda fairgrounds I was overwhelmed with joy. She just cuddled right up under my chin and was as content as could be to be with the total stranger that I was. Neva said I wasn't a stranger at all, as she'd been showing Maizie my picture every day for many months by then, and talking about her new "Mama" … so she was convinced Maizie "knew" who I was.

I spent a week in Texas and then returned home with Maizie. She settled right into the family and quickly made herself at home. Within the first week home I realized something was happening between Maizie and me.

I'm blind due to Optic Nerve Hypoplasia and Diabetic Retinipathy. I have no vision in my right eye and extremely limited sight in my left (able to see only vague shapes and colors). I'm partnered with a debonair yet goofy Golden Retriever named Nolte as my guide dog. I've had Type 1 diabetes for more than half my life.

Within the first few weeks having Maizie join the family I realized something was indeed very very special about this little chocolate bob-tail pup. During the night Maizie would wake me up, pawing at my chest, nipping frantically at my chin, my nose, my ears. I thought she had to go out to potty, so I'd go to get up and take her outside. Well, as soon as I stood up I became symptomatic … I would become faint and shaky, and a bit disoriented. Classic signs of low blood sugar. I would go into the kitchen and test my blood sugar, and sure enough it would be low. So I would drink some juice, grab a few crackers, and head outside with Maizie to let her go potty. Usually she wouldn't have to go, she'd just keep trying to climb up on my lap and when I'd pick her up she would nip at my chin and lick my face frantically.

We'd return inside and head off to bed. Once in bed, Maizie would snuggle in and go to sleep, as if our sleep time had never been disturbed. This same routine repeated itself several times over the next several weeks, and finally connected Maizie's behavior with my low blood sugars. I was amazed at this little dog's talent. I'd heard of dogs being trained to alert to low and high blood sugars, but Maizie had had no training whatsoever.

I contacted Dogs4Diabetics and asked them what the incidence was of dogs naturally alerting, without having any scent training. The answer was, one in 1,500 will naturally alert. The lady who contacted me told me that if Maizie is alerting to my low sugars, she definitely a "keeper". But I already knew that, long before she displayed this special ability.

I spoke with several trainers of assistance and guide dogs in the following months and gained info on how to encourage Maizie's behavior … hone her skills, if you will. Maizie was not yet a year old, and in general service dogs are not "officially" worked as such until they're at least a year old. So I worked with Maizie in the meantime, praising her to the moon and back whenever she alerted to my low sugars. I soon found that she was also alerting to my high blood sugars. I documented each episode of low and high, and noted the things Maizie did to alert me.

I found that her alerts to my lows are quite different from her alerts to my highs. When my sugar drops, Maizie becomes frantic; she licks, nips, paws at my chest. She nibbles my ears and "butts" my face with her snoot. If I ignore her she becomes more and more frantic until I get up and go and check my blood sugar. The lows generally happen during the night when I'm sleeping, but she does alert during the day as well. When my blood sugars are high, Maizie reacts by laying against my chest, very quietly but forcibly. She will generally press her body against my chest and lay her head against my face or neck. She sometimes trembles, and often sighs very deeply. She will not leave me until I check my blood sugar, and even afterward she sticks close by for about a half hour later.

Last year I was admitted to the hospital for surgery to have a feeding tube placed in my intestine and one in my stomach. My diabetes is such that I've developed a number of irreversible complications, including my vision loss and also a severe nerve damage to my gastrointestinal tract and stomach (gastroparesis). The latter makes it so that I cannot eat solid foods, so must be fed a liquid diet through the J tube in my intestine.

While I was in the hospital, Maizie stayed with me, as did my guide dog, Nolte. Service Dogs are granted access to places pets are not allowed – stores, restaurants, public transportation – pretty much everywhere the public is allowed, including hospitals. This was the first time the staff at the hospital had ever experienced having a Diabetic Alert Dog stay with a patient. The nurses and doctors were amazed at Maizie's abilities. If I called for a nurse to let her know my sugar felt low, she'd call my doctor on the phone … the doctor would say, "Well, what is Maizie doing?" The nurse would say, "She's hopping all over the bed and won't settle down." … to which my doctor would say, "Ok, glucose is no doubt low …" and would give orders as to what to do next.

Maizie is truly a special little Dachshund and has touched my life in such a way that no other doxie has. She is not only the dear sweet little soul, comedian and companion that so many Dachshunds are to so many, but on top of that she has this incredibly rare and special talent for detecting and alerting to low and high blood glucose levels. She has truly enriched my life and each day with her is a blessing.

If I go to my doctor's office and don't have Maizie with me everyone is so disappointed. The office staff say "Where's our little Maizie?!" When I do bring her with me, someone usually grabs her right away and runs off with her, showing her off to everyone in the office and telling all about Maizie's special talent. As a result my little Maizie is a social butterfly and quite comfortable being carried in someone's arms. I'm afraid she has become quite spoiled and it is beneath her to actually walk on her four little doxie feet.

I get such a tickle out of this girl … after she has alerted and I've taken something to bring my sugar back up, she'll sit on my lap with her paws on my chest and just stare at me, waiting for me to "feel better". My mother has been able to catch several moments like this with the camera, and I cherish every image.

Here is the link to Maizie's own page on my web site. The music on the site is me singing a little song I wrote about my girl.