You may not recognize the dachshund in the photo, but she's a diabetic alert dog, and we featured an article about her way back in 2008. We'll wait for you to click here to read it and refresh your memory.
You'll
be happy to know that five years later, Maizie's abilities to detect
changes in blood sugar level and to warn Karen Ann are unimpaired. Last
year, she placed tenth out of a hundred contestants in the American
Humane Association's Hero Dog awards in the service dog category. And
this year, because Karen Ann's other service dog, Jingles, won first place in the guide dog category, Maizie went along to the awards ceremony in Hollywood.
The
stars shone bright that night. Besides Betty White, celebrity judges
included Whoopi
Goldberg, Miranda Lambert and Kristin Chenoweth. And the one thing they
could all agree on was that they had never seen a dachshund with a
service dog vest.
Karen Ann tells us that Maizie can relax and clown around at home, but when she's in public and when she's on the job, she is entirely focused on alerting Karen Ann to changing blood sugar levels.
You can follow the adventures of Maizie and Jingles on their Facebook page, The Dynamic Duo of Service Dogdom.
And, as a bonus, you can click here for a coloring sheet that Karen Ann drew herself to pass out to kids who want to know about service dogs.
Our congratulations to both Maizie and Jingles.