Taking the lead: Rebecca Farrar with her life-saving labrador ShirleyHaving the time of her life dancing at a disco on holiday in Cornwall with her new friends, six-year-old Rebecca Farrar had no idea her life was in danger.
As a type 1 diabetic, her blood glucose levels were dropping alarmingly low, putting her at risk of hypoglycaemia, which can lead to a coma or even death, but the little girl didn't have a clue.
Across the room, her mother Claire was oblivious to her daughter's state as Rebecca looked healthy instead of being pale - the usual sign she's about to suffer an attack
Usually the situation would have led to her collapsing and an ambulance having to be called, but not this time.
For just weeks before, Rebecca had been given a labrador called Shirley, one of only eight 'hypo-alert' dogs in the country trained to detect hypoglycaemia and warn the family.
'Despite all the noise and unfamiliar smells in the room, Shirley went straight under the table to Rebecca's open medical bag and fished the sugar-testing kit out and brought it to me,' says Claire, 39.
'Sure enough, her levels were so low she was just about to collapse.'
Thanks to Shirley's early warning, Claire was able to give her daughter some carbohydrate to boost her glucose levels and avoid having to call an ambulance.
It's eight weeks since the Farrars, from Northampton, welcomed Shirley into their home - and already she has been a life saver.
Dogs have been used to help deaf and blind people for years, but their ability to detect illness in humans was only first reported in the British Medical Journal in 2004, when it was found their superior sense of smell - more than 100,000 times more sensitive than humans' - could pick up traces of bladder cancer in urine.
Since then, the Cancer and Bio-Detection Dogs charity has been investigating other ways dogs can help humans and discovered dogs can spot signs of both hypoglycaemia (low glucose levels) and hyperglycaemia (soaring glucose levels), providing hope for Britain's three million diabetics.
They've discovered canines' superior sense of smell can detect these changes through sweat. all dogs have the capacity to smell these changes and in theory any dog could be trained to help its owner.
Rebecca was first diagnosed with type 1 diabetes - caused when the pancreas fails to produce insulin - two years ago when she was suddenly taken ill and had to be rushed to hospital.
Man's best friend: Until recently, dogs were only used to help the blind, such as these labradors, but now they are helping more and more people with illnesses Type 1 diabetes is different from type 2, the more common variety of the condition, which tends to develop during adulthood - with type 2, insulin is still produced by the body but just not in big enough quantities.
Because of her diabetes, Rebecca has been dependent on four insulin injections every day but, as she's so young, she struggles to control her condition.
She's become so ill she's needed hospital treatment eight times, suffers up to five 'hypos' a day and her mother has lost count of the times she's collapsed and they've had to call an ambulance so that paramedics can revive her.
'Her sugar levels are up and down all the time,' says Claire, who also has a son, Joseph, who is Rebecca's twin.
'But she has no feeling when it's happening. her face goes white, her eyes start rolling and her legs go wobbly. it's as if she's drunk. Trying to get her to eat can be a nightmare - I can't get it through to her how important it is.'
While Rebecca isn't banned from eating any particular food, she should only have something sugary, such as her beloved ice cream, when she's eating a meal because it's then she receives her insulin injections.
Insulin: Diabetes can be controlled by regular injectionsBut, as her glucose levels can be too high as well as too low, it's a balancing act. exercise can reduce her levels and, as she loves swimming, she's treated to a bar of Kit Kat immediately after she leaves the pool, to increase the sugar in her body.
As she gets older Rebecca will begin to understand her condition, but until the arrival of Shirley it was Claire who shouldered the responsibility.
'I had to give up my job in retail so i was available at all times to dash to the school if she fell ill,' she says.
'And for nearly two years i didn't sleep through the night, I just catnapped because I was so worried she'd slip into a coma and i wouldn't be able to wake her.
'Diabetes is a life-threatening disease that could kill her at any time.'
So when Claire's mother, Diana, saw an article in a local newspaper about hypo-alert dogs, they immediately applied.
Shirley had originally been trained by the charity guide Dogs for the Blind association, but had to be replaced because she didn't like her harness.
But not before her owner, himself a diabetic, had noticed she always licked his hand just before he became hypoglycaemic.
The charity retrained her and Shirley now wears a bright yellow 'medical alert dog' bib.
'I didn't realise how much she would change our lives,' says Claire. 'Rebecca's not had a single hypo when Shirley's been around and she's never been wrong.'
Shirley licks Rebecca's hand to warn her and, if ignored, goes off to fetch her mother.
The only time Shirley's not by her owner's side is when Rebecca's at school.
'Shirley watches over Rebecca all night and needs a break,' says Claire. 'So we take her bib off and she becomes a different dog - like a puppy, chewing toys and being naughty. She's worth her weight in gold - I can sleep at night.'
source: dailymail
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