Forget lassie, millie is my life-saver
Specially trained dog raised the alarm when disabled owner fell into diabetic coma
If Paul McKenzie shouts ‘alarm’, his dog Millie is trained to press a panic button.
But when he slipped into a diabetic coma, he was far beyond shouting – and seemingly beyond help.
Millie, however, had other ideas. When she found Mr McKenzie, 47, slumped on the floor, the clever black Labrador took matters into her own paws – and pressed the button all by herself. It alerted staff at a 24-hour control centre who tried to contact Mr McKenzie, before dialling 999 and calling his neighbours for help. Mr McKenzie, who also has neuropathy – nerve damage, a common complication of diabetes – was taken from his home in Derrington to Stafford hospital and put on a drip to restore his blood sugar levels. The former IT consultant said: ‘Millie is my very own Lassie – she saved my life, and if it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t be here now.’ ‘She is a lifeline for me anyway - she is specially trained to help me do household tasks, as I have trouble getting about and lifting and carrying things on my own.
‘I can’t believe how clever she is. We have trained her to press my emergency button on command, and I often use it to call for help if I’ve fallen at home and can’t get up.
‘Never in my wildest dreams did I think that Millie understood the consequences of her pressing the button - that help always arrives. ‘The emergency services were amazed when they realised it was my dog who had called for help. ‘She’s one in a million - my best friend.’ Millie was trained by canine assistance charity Canine Partners, who provide assistance dogs to people with disabilities to help them with day to day life.
Mr McKenzie, who gave up work five years ago when his nerve damage worsened, relies on Millie to pick up things from the ground, which is difficult for him, and often causes him to fall. As part of her training, the fouryear-old was taught to press the emergency button if Paul gets into difficulties, and has done so around ten times in the last two-anda-half years. The button contacts staff at Stafford and Rural Homes, a charity which owns and manages 5,600 homes in the borough that were formerly council housing stock. Mr McKenzie, who is divorced, said of the incident last month: ‘I’d been out in the morning with Millie doing some shopping and all was well but my bloods had been low.
‘I ate lunch but was then sick and so felt a tad rough in the afternoon and at around 6:30 Millie and I had a game of tugging a rope, which was my last memory for a while.
‘The Lifeline button was pressed at 7:45pm. The team were shouting for me through the speaker - usually we can shout to each other using this no matter where I might be in the flat - but when they heard no response from me they realised Millie must have pressed the alarm and summoned help.’