In Service
How dogs, llamas, pigs and other animals — even bees! — save lives and soothe spirits
With contributions by Carrielle Sedersten and Kamrin Baker
Leo wasn’t about to let Anna Di Ruocco go back to sleep. Good thing, too, for if she had, Anna might never have woken.
It was 1 a.m. when Leo first jumped on her. Di Ruocco’s blood sugar levels were skyrocketing and her pH levels plummeting, building ketone acids in her bloodstream to deadly levels. A Type I Brittle diabetic, Di Ruocco is susceptible to wide swings in blood glucose, from too high (hyperglycemia) to too low (hypoglycemia).
Leo barked. He licked Di Ruocco’s face. Finally, she woke, took a dose of insulin ... then went back to bed.
“I just wanted to sleep,” she says.
But the insulin wasn’t enough. Her blood sugar level was higher than her glucose meter could accurately register. She was falling closer and closer to DKA — diabetic ketoacidosis, a severe and life-threatening state.
Leo kept alerting Di Ruocco. All night.
“Leo knew,” she says. “Leo is trained to alert to changes, and this means he alerts to the initial rise. But he knew something else was wrong.”
By the time morning came, he was still at it. The ketones continued to build in Di Ruocco. She began to vomit. Finally, she decided to heed Leo’s warnings and had her roommate drive her to the hospital. She was admitted to the ICU.
“If he wouldn’t have all night continued to keep me up, I might have fallen comatose,” Di Ruocco says. “They told me I was very close to the point where I should have died.”
As it was, the 2018 UNO graduate spent more than a week in ICU.
That was nearly four years ago. Di Ruocco recovered.
And Leo remains by her side.
AT WORK
Leo goes everywhere with Di Ruocco as an indispensable part of her life. Such a sight is now common in the public sphere. According to the U.S. Department of State’s ShareAmerica, there are approximately 500,000 service dogs in the United States.
Service Dogs, as USA Service Dogs notes, are trained to perform a specific task to help a person with a disability that could include mobility problems, blindness, paralysis, epilepsy, panic attacks, deafness, speech problems, and PTSD. Under the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), they can go wherever their owners go.
That’s not the case with Emotional Support or Therapy Dogs, which typically are not required to be trained for specific tasks. Nor are they afforded the same protections under the ADA as service dogs. Rather, their role in general is to provide companionship, affection and comfort to their owner or others. Common conditions requiring emotional support dogs include anxiety disorders, panic attacks, stress, social phobia, PTSD, and chronic depression.
A service dog can be indispensable to its owner for everyday tasks, such as bringing items to a person in a wheelchair or guiding a person with a visual impairment. Or, they might alert a person to a coming seizure or low blood glucose.
Leo, for instance, frees Anna from having to frequently prick her finger in order to check her blood sugar levels — especially at night.
“For three years, I basically didn't sleep at night because I didn't know if I would wake up the next day,” says Di Ruocco, who got Leo in October 2014. “When I got Leo, I was actually able to sleep heavily again because I knew he was there.”
Service animals also can provide support for those with mental and emotional struggles.
FLYING WITH FLIRTY
UNO graduate Abrea Hensley suffered from PTSD-induced panic attacks and dissociative episodes that would strike in public, rendering her unable to accomplish everyday tasks.
That changed in 2017 when she adopted a miniature service horse, Flirty. Sure, a dog would have been an easier choice. But Hensley is allergic to them. And miniature horses, like dogs, are ADA-protected.
Leaving her with Flirty. The 7-year-old horse “completely changed” her life.
“Since I started working with her, I can actually go out and do things,” Hensely says. “I can pretty much go back to having a normal life. Obviously, toting around a horse isn’t exactly normal, but it’s as close to normal as I can be.”
“Her most helpful thing she does is that she will alert me before I have an anxiety attack,” Hensley says. “She can warn me when my heart rate and my cortisol levels are starting to go up. That way, I can go ahead and do some of the exercises I’ve learned in therapy to help avert the pain. Or I can take my medication if that’s necessary.”
The gray mare wears a rope on her harness that Hensley can grab when she begins to dissociate, a psychological phenomenon that detaches a person from their physical and emotional surroundings.
“When I dissociate, I don’t know where the ground is,” Hensley says. “And I can hold onto her and know where I am.”
Flirty also reminds Hensley to take her medicine and is trained in blocking, meaning she can stand between Hensley and other individuals so they do not get too close in public.
Hensley and Flirty became a social media sensation in 2019 when news outlets reported on their travels with American Airlines on a trip to Chicago. That resulted in an Instagram account for Flirty
(@flirty.the.mini.service.horse), which at last count had more than 13,000 followers.
“It was really empowering to fly and know that I could do that,” Hensley says. “Flirty handled everything like a pro, but it’s always the question of how others are going to react. It’s also a small space for her, so I think I’ll reserve flying for emergency circumstances.”
AT ATTENTION
The attention Hensley received included criticisms. Some questioned the need — or Hensley’s right — to have Flirty at her side.
Hensley said she often has to bring up the Department of Justice website to show businesses she is allowed to have Flirty. Service dogs can legally go everywhere their handler goes, regardless of what the pet policy may be, including airplanes, schools, ubers, restaurants etc. That said, Hensley says she has been kicked out of public shopping centers.
“I get that she’s unusual,” Hensley says. “But what I’d like people to realize is that these animals are what allows us [people with disabilities] to live fairly normal and functional lives. These animals aren’t fashion accessories. They are necessary medical systems.”
Others see a person with a service animal and begin to ask questions. Or, as was the case with Hensely one day at a coffee shop, take a photo with Flirty without asking permission. Something Hensley refers to as “an invasion of privacy.”
Service dogs typically wear vests that often include “Do Not Pet” indicators. But that’s sometimes not enough to deter people from trying to pet or talk to a service dog. That keeps them from working.
“It's difficult for people not to want to pet a dog when they see one because it's human nature to want to interact with the dog because dogs aren't always something you see in all social situations,” says Jen Papproth, director of UNO Accessibility Services Center.
Papproth explains the service animal as an extension of the person. And just as you wouldn't invade the personal bubble of someone you don’t know by going up and petting their arm, you afford a service dog — or miniature horse — those same boundaries. The service dog’s job requires their undivided attention. Approaching them without permission may distract the dog and cause serious consequences for the individual who needs that animal. In Nebraska, interfering with a service dog is a Class III misdemeanor.