Yappy, and proud of it

SEPT 27, 2006

By Jacqui Knox

Say hello to a puff-haired pooch with extraordinary powers.

He snarls at his owners and wakes them in the middle of the night, then gets a cuddle for doing the right thing.

His name is Carbi and he has lived in Faulconbridge for just six weeks. But he has already given his diabetic dad James Yarker several warnings of potentially deadly low blood sugar levels.

The fourteen-week-old puppy is a Chinese Crested powder puff - a dog breed that seems to naturally and reliably detect hypoglycaemic attacks before symptoms arrive.

Only a handful of such 'alert dogs' are being trained in Australia by Paws for Diabetics, despite research reported in the British Medical Journal and spreading popularity in the US.

Carbi (short for 'carbohydrate') snarls and barks furiously when his owner is about to have one of his attacks.

On one occasion he woke James in the middle of the night. On another he stopped James form getting into his car and potentially falling unconscious behind the wheel as happened two years ago.

"It's to do with smell I think," said James. "It always feels weird praising him when he's barking at me."

Carbi is being obedience trained to become a certified assistance dog and is allowed to go everywhere with James and his wife Liz.

In fact, Carbi even has an ID card.

"Yes, he is spoilt, it's worth it," said James.

James admits he probably would have liked the pooch even if it didn't do its job.
"I have to say I was a bit sceptical (before) ... I suppose I was sort of excited about being able to take a puppy dog to work."

At the end of the year Carbi will travel to Tasmania with James and Liz.

No doubt he will attract the same kind of attention there as he does in cafes, shops and even nursing homes here.

"The thing that takes up time is everybody wants to pat him," says Liz.

Source: The Blue Mountains Gazette