Willow Service Dogs L.L.C.
Gluten Detection Dog Specialist
willowservicedogs@gmail.com
Celiac Service Dog 'Heralds' Life-Change for Veterinary Student
Jess Benson is a third-year student at Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine. She is getting ready to start clinical rotations, pondering residency, looking for internships, and is well on her way to fulfilling her dreams of becoming an equine practitioner on the East Coast. The dream of veterinary school, however, almost never came to fruition because of celiac disease. “I’ve been sick most of my life, but I never received a definitive diagnosis,” says Jess. “The summer before vet school, I was getting sicker and sicker to the point where I was getting ready to defer my first year because I could barely get out of bed. I could barely move.” An endoscopy exam showed the disease had caused her intestinal lining to be completely destroyed. There was no absorptive surface for nutrients. Jess was eating six meals a day and continuing to lose weight. She was finally diagnosed with celiac disease on the second day of her first year of veterinary school.
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Photography by Kattie Landis Prock
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Jess and Harold were the first team trained
by video conference.
Dawn Scheu kisses Willow, her German shorthaired dog trained to sniff out gluten, Wednesday, September 17, 2014 at the home of Kathryn Watters in Brighton, MI. Scheu, who suffers from celiac disease, and Watters started Nosey Dog Detection Partners to train service dogs. Photo by Dave Wasinger / Lansing State Journal
Dave Wasinger | Lansing State Journal
Dawn Scheu talks about refractory celiac disease and training gluten detection dogs
Dawn Scheu, owner and professional trainer at Willow Service Dogs, returns to talk about a recent harrowing experience she had with a medication that she believed to be safe for her. In addition to talking about the need for more oversight on medications with allergens, we talk in detail about what goes into owning a service dog.
12/17/2014 Celiac Disease foundation
Can Service Dogs Help Sniff Out Gluten?
BY AMY SINATRA AYRES | DECEMBER 8, 2014
You can’t enter a grocery store or restaurant these days without noticing the booming popularity of gluten-free foods. What started as a medical necessity for some has flourished into the newest diet trend — and we bet you know someone who’s gone gluten free.
Gluten is the protein in wheat, barley and rye. People cut it out of their diets for many reasons; some think it’s a healthier option, while others have varying levels of sensitivity to it that can result in stomach upset and abdominal pain.
But for the estimated 1 in 100 people worldwide who are diagnosed with celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder, staying away from gluten is a medical necessity. If a person with the disease ingests even a minute amount of gluten, they could suffer illness akin to food poisoning — and have long-term health effects, according to the Celiac Disease Foundation. The only treatment for celiac disease is following a strict gluten-free diet. Even ingesting trace amounts through cross-contamination can lead to an attack, and avoiding gluten is very challenging because it can be in anything from food to medicines.
The question now is can people with this disease benefit from a service dog? Some service dogs help people who are blind, deaf or have PTSD, and scent-detection dogs have been trained to sniff out diabetes and cancer. Have we reached a point where dogs can be trained to detect gluten, too?
