Today’s puppet is named Jock and he’s a total rockstar. His owner, Caroline sent us his story and I thought it was just too good to not share with our listeners.
Caroline lived in an apartment and never had a dog, but she met a guy who had a Scottish Terrier named Jock. He was so sweet and playful, the dog that is, that Caroline fell in love with him immediately. There was one little problem, or hiccup, in her budding relationship with Jock… when she slept over, he’d always wake her up in the middle of the night. Like, get in her face, and growl until she woke up.
Caroline would wake up and let him out, but he’d freak out because that’s not what he wanted, so she’d bring him in, because no one likes the neighbor with the berserk dog in the middle of the night. It just kept happening, for months, to the point that Caroline was barely sleeping, and she just didn’t get it. During the day, Jock was a perfect little gentleman and would be sweet and so well behaved, but in the middle of the night, he just would not let her sleep.
Caroline finally found a solution. When Jock would wake her up, she’d take him to the kitchen and get them each a spoonful of peanut butter. He’d calm down, she’d get a little snack, it was something they could work with. After a month of their little ritual, she still wasn’t sleeping, but she did notice that some nights, her blood sugar levels would dip into a dangerously low range. Something to keep an eye on for sure, but whatever.
Then one night, Jock didn’t wake her up, he woke the whole house up. Barking, running around, licking her face and everything. It was like nothing he’d ever done before. He just wouldn’t calm down and got protective of Caroline, even almost biting her boyfriend when he got close to her. They ended up having to crate him, which they never had to do. He knows that’s his space, and usually puts himself to bed with his blanket and stuffed elephant, but he was going so off the wall they had to contain him.
Caroline finally checked her sugar, and it was far over than it had ever been, and she was rushed off to the emergency room, where she was admitted to the hospital to regulate her sugar. Which took three whole days! It turns out, the insulin she was prescribed was way too high of a dose, and if it hadn’t been for Jock, and his instinct to keep her safe, she possibly would have never found that out, and could have even died that night.
I know that dogs can be trained to detect low blood sugar, the onset of seizures, and all sorts of things to help humans with heath conditions, but get this, Jock has NEVER had any training for that! Not only that, as far as they know, Caroline is the first and only diabetic person Jock has ever even been around! Because of him, Caroline was able to get on the correct dosage, is doing great, and she and Jock are inseparable. He wakes her up every morning so she’s not late to work and waits for her to get home every night and insist on cuddling on the couch with her always. He’s still watching out for her too! Caroline ended her note to us by saying she wasn’t sure she wanted to submit Jock’s story at first, but she was writing in the middle of the night, because Jock had woken her up once again. Sure enough, her sugar was low, and she thought, and I agree, that he should get a little extra attention for that.
