Diabetic woman saved by dog's licks

Stella the dog is not just Tracey Poole's loyal companion and friend - the pet also saved her owner's life. The black and white pooch has twice come to the rescue when diabetic Tracey has suffered a hypoglycemic attack. Stella urgently licked sleeping Tracey's hand to wake her up and allow her to deal with the attack.

Tracey, 41, of Pottery Road, Hoo, who has owned Stella for about a year, is an insulin-dependant diabetic. She believes if her faithful dog had not woken her up in the early hours of Friday last week, she could have gone into a coma and, as she lives alone, that could have been fatal. About seven months ago, Stella did the same thing when Tracey had another attack while asleep.

Tracey said: "She was licking my hand and nudging me with her nose. She kept nudging and nudging until I woke up. At first I didn't realise what was happening and then when I came round a bit, I realised I was having a hypo and was able to get up and sort myself out. My blood sugar was dangerously low. If she'd not woken me up I could have slipped into a coma."

Stella, who is eight, has not had any specialist training to identify the danger signs of going into a hypoglycemic attack, but Tracey thinks she has worked it out by herself. Tracey, who also has other health problems, added: "She is a Jack Russell and border collie cross, so she had the intelligence there. We are inseparable. We go for walks four times a day and we sit together on the sofa, she never leaves my side. She's a real lifesaver and I gave her a treat of a farmhouse sausage for what she did. I'm very proud of her and love her to bits."