Woman starts business after daughter's illness diagnosed

ELKHART, Ind. (AP) - After her daughter almost died from extremely high blood sugar, Christina McLachlan found a way to help her without medications and needles - with their family dog, Mylez.

Alana Payne showed the symptoms for Type 1 diabetes for a few years before she was diagnosed with it on March 3, 2014.

It was a memorable day for the now 15-year-old Alana and her mom because it was the day Payne was in diabetic ketoacidosis, a condition when there is a high level of ketones in the blood that can lead to a diabetic coma or even death. Her blood-sugar level was more than four times the normal level.

Knowing more now than she did then, McLachlan can identify the Type 1 diabetes symptoms her daughter was experiencing, such as extreme hunger and thirst, weight loss even when eating more, headaches and shaking. They learned what Type 1 diabetes is and how to treat it.

"At first, you're like, 'Oh, my God! How am I going to work? How's she going to go to school?' It's a lot. Now, it's just our normal life," McLachlan said.

Since that eventful March day, McLachlan started researching diabetic alert dogs, dogs trained to alert a diabetic when blood sugar levels are too low or too high, and she reached out to multiple trainers. She eventually found an author and diabetic alert dog trainer and did a training session with her.

"It's just another task that you teach dogs to do, so once I knew how to teach the dog to do it, it wasn't hard to do," McLachlan said.

McLachlan has been a dog lover and dog trainer her whole life. It came full circle for her when she discovered she could train Mylez to be a diabetic alert dog.

"'If I can train him to do it because he's a terrier, I could probably train any dog to do this, if they're willing to work,'" McLachlan thought at the time. "I started with him, and he picked right up on it."

She always wanted to be a full-time dog trainer, but was discouraged early on by her high school guidance counselor, who said it wasn't a real profession.

"With Alana getting sick, you just don't know what path God's going to lead you on. It just comes natural to me. I just really like it," McLachlan said.

With the help of Elkhart SCORE, McLachlan launched Michiana Service Dogs, a dog training service to provide dog obedience training or to train rescue dogs as diabetic alert, seizure response, hearing response or autism response dogs.

Rescue dogs are used because it cuts training costs in half, McLachlan said. Most trainers train purebred puppies for up to two years before a family can have them - at a cost that ranges from $30,000 to $40,000. McLachlan can train adult rescue dogs in about four months at half the cost.

In addition to trying to help other families by providing diabetic alert dogs at less cost, the family actively educates people around them about diabetes. People will come up to them in the store and ask what is on my arm, Payne said about her OmniPod insulin management system.

Many times, doctors may misdiagnose people with the flu when they see the symptoms of Type 1 diabetes, McLachlan said. Educating people about Type 1 diabetes symptoms can save lives, she said.

"Who knows who they're going to come into contact with," McLachlan said.

Although their goal is to educate and help others, McLachlan said Mylez has been a blessing to her family. He actively alerts Payne every day. Since they trained together and he works for her, they are closer than ever.

"(Alana and Mylez)'s bond is stronger. He's still the family dog, because that's how it's worked for us," McLachlan said. "Who knew this was going to happen."

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Source: The Elkhart Truth, http://bit.ly/1lLuO67

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Information from: The Elkhart Truth, http://www.elkharttruth.com