A dogmatic approach to taming diabetes

Teenager Katie Gregson’s dog, Pip, has saved her life... not once but many times.

Katie, 16, has had Type 1 diabetes since she was two and has learned to be alert for danger signs, because failing to spot a change in blood sugar levels can be deadly. But now Katie has a four-legged guardian angel – after she trained her Border Collie to detect when she was at risk.

“Pip has saved me many times,” Katie said. “Every day I get high and low blood sugars, and she’s alert at all points. Overnight is critical, because you can’t feel it coming on while you’re asleep. She’ll paw me, becoming insistent. If I don’t wake she’ll go to my parents’ room and alert them.”

Hypo alert dogs are able to pick up on odour changes to detect low or high blood glucose. But few owners teach their own dogs – and certainly not at 10 years old.

“I got Pip as a puppy when I was 10 and decided I wanted to train her to do this,” said Katie. “It was very much trial and error. Training took three years.”

Katie plans to challenge the stigma surrounding her condition in an unusual way – by starring in a theatre show at the Edinburgh Fringe alongside Pip.

She said: “I would like to become involved in theatre as a career and this is a massive step, plus being on stage is Pip’s favourite place to be – she loves it.”