Wells Deborah L, Lawson Shaun W, Siriwardena A Niroshan
School of Psychology, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.
J Altern Complement Med. 2008 Dec;14(10):1235-41. doi: 10.1089/acm.2008.0288.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that domestic dogs may be able to detect hypoglycemia in their human caregivers; scientific investigation of this phenomenon, however, is sorely lacking. This study thus aimed to investigate how pet dogs respond to the hypoglycemic episodes of their owners with type 1 diabetes.
Two hundred and twelve dog owners (64.2% female) with medically diagnosed type 1 diabetes participated in the study. All participants owned at least 1 dog. Each person completed a purpose-designed questionnaire developed to collect information on their dogs' responses (if any) to their hypoglycemic episodes.
One hundred and thirty-eight (65.1%) respondents indicated that their dog had shown a behavioral reaction to at least one of their hypoglycemic episodes, with 31.9% of animals reacting to 11 or more events. Canine sex, age, breed status, and length of pet ownership were unrelated to hypoglycemia-response likelihood. Thirty-six percent of the sample believed that their dogs reacted most of the times they went "low"; 33.6% indicated that their pets reacted before they themselves were aware they were hypoglycemic. Dogs' behavioral responses to their owners' hypoglycemic episodes varied. Most animals behaved in a manner suggestive of attracting their owners' attention, for example, vocalizing (61.5%), licking them (49.2%), nuzzling them (40.6%), jumping on top of them (30.4%), and/or staring intently at their faces (41.3%). A smaller proportion showed behavioral responses suggestive of fear, including trembling (7.2%), running away from the owner (5.1%), and/or hyperventilating (2.2%).
The findings suggest that behavioral reactions to hypoglycemic episodes in pet owners with type 1 diabetes commonly occur in untrained dogs. Further research is now needed to elucidate the mechanism(s) that dogs use to perform this feat.
轶事证据表明家养犬可能能够察觉人类照料者的低血糖情况；然而，对此现象的科学研究严重不足。因此，本研究旨在调查宠物犬对1型糖尿病主人低血糖发作的反应。
212名经医学诊断为1型糖尿病的犬主人（64.2%为女性）参与了本研究。所有参与者至少拥有1只犬。每个人都完成了一份专门设计的问卷，以收集关于其犬对低血糖发作的反应（如有）的信息。
138名（65.1%）受访者表示他们的犬对至少一次低血糖发作表现出行为反应，31.9%的犬对11次或更多次发作有反应。犬的性别、年龄、品种状况和饲养时长与低血糖反应可能性无关。36%的样本认为他们的犬在大多数“血糖低”的时候有反应；33.6%表示他们的宠物在主人自己意识到低血糖之前就有反应。犬对主人低血糖发作的行为反应各不相同。大多数犬的行为方式表明它们在吸引主人的注意，例如，发出叫声（61.5%）、舔主人（49.2%）、用鼻子蹭主人（40.6%）、跳到主人身上（30.4%）和/或专注地盯着主人的脸（41.3%）。较小比例的犬表现出恐惧的行为反应，包括颤抖（7.2%）、逃离主人（5.1%）和/或呼吸急促（2.2%）。
研究结果表明，未经训练的犬对1型糖尿病宠物主人的低血糖发作普遍会出现行为反应。现在需要进一步研究以阐明犬执行这一行为的机制。
