Life as a Service Dog Team
The bond between Lisa and her medical alert dog, Hunch, as told by Hunch
Story by LEAH ALLEN | Illustration by KARLYN NOURSE
My name is Hunch and Lisa Osadchuk is my person. I use my supersonic nose to sniff, sniff, sniff when her cortisol levels are low. My nose is so strong I can tell her when this happens before she starts to feel bad. Before my big brother Hugo and I came along, she would wait until she felt like she was going to pass out before taking her meds. I make sure she stays safe and out of the emergency room as much as possible.
Lisa does not make enough cortisol because her adrenal glands were removed. The adrenals produce a good amount of the cortisol hormone in healthy humans, but Lisa’s used to make way too much.
She got sick around 2005. Sections of her hair fell out, her vision got wonky and she developed big purple stretch marks all over her stomach. These symptoms were caused by Cushing’s disease, which happens when a brain tumor on the pituitary gland sends a signal to the adrenals to make lots and lots of cortisol.
Lisa was diagnosed with the disease in 2010. Doctors removed her tumor that year, but she continued to get sicker. Her muscles weakened and her blood pressure rose. In a matter of months, she went from 140 pounds to 220 pounds.
When her adrenal glands were removed in 2011, she was left with the opposite problem: too little cortisol. Now she has to take meds to make enough.
My job is to smell when the levels are dropping so Lisa does not feel terrible. I can do this because my nose is amazing. It is so powerful I can detect some smells in parts per trillion. Some humans do not realize how good my nose is, so dog-cognition scientist Alexandra Horowitz wrote a book called “Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know.”
She wrote that humans might notice if a teaspoon of sugar was added to their coffee, but dogs can detect a teaspoon of sugar in a million gallons of water. That is as big as two Olympic-sized pools. I would like to swim in that.
Cortisol detection is the most important thing I do, but I can do lots of other tasks too. I will do momentum pulling if Lisa needs power assist to get up stairs. She likes this because it takes the pressure off her weak leg. Momentum pulling is also good for flat ground. Lisa’s normal wobbly walk gets straighter when she has to work to keep up with me.
Deep pressure therapy is another great thing I do. Mild Asperger’s syndrome makes Lisa anxious or overstimulated sometimes. Depending on what she is doing and how I am feeling, I will sit or lie on her foot, put my paws on her shoulders or lay my entire body on top of hers. She says my weight resets her nervous system so she can handle the world again. I do not even need a command for this task because I can sense when Lisa is stressed all on my own, but the command is “up” just in case.
I learned how to be a service dog when I was already one year old. That is when I became Lisa’s boy, but I actually met her when I was nine months old. She still had my big brother Hugo then, and was working at the kennel where we were born when I came in for a grooming appointment.
She says I was a rowdy red fluff ball with the cutest little face and the most adorable whiskers she ever did see. I remember leaning my fluffy body into her when she came over to play with me and licking her face all over because she made me so happy.
I loved her and I had just met her.
Lisa wanted to take me home right then and there, but her condo was not big enough for a Hugo and a Hunch. Plus, I was waiting to become a conformation dog. That means show dog.
At the time, Lisa did not know Hugo had cancer. In the next few months, he would end up dying just shy of three years old. After he passed on, she started looking for another golden retriever to train. My breeder let her work with one of my sisters and me to keep her occupied during the search.
Then one morning, Lisa made the decision not to go forward with another dog she had been working with. My breeder called to ask if she wanted me that same day.
Now I get to wear a special harness that lets the world know I am a dog with a job. There are big words on the side that say “SERVICE DOG” and another one on top that says “MEDICAL ALERT DO NOT TOUCH.” Those are the most important ones, but I have other patches that are just for fun. My favorites are the service wookiee patch because I look like Chewbacca and the Portland Winterhawks patch because they are our favorite ice hockey team.
Before Lisa got sick, she was a hockey superstar! She grew up cheering for the Winterhawks and picked up the sport as an adult in 1996, moving all the way up to mid-level by 2005. She played mostly goalie, plus some forward and defense. She also refereed and was the first woman in Washington state to referee for lower-level boys junior hockey.
My human is amazing! She was so good she went to referee camp to try and get her international license from the International Ice Hockey Federation. The license would have allowed her to travel all over the world and possibly referee at the Olympics.
These days we just go to Winterhawks games because Lisa’s body is not letting her play right now; but she has done sled hockey and would like to do more of that.
Lisa and I have the best time together. I love doing conformation shows just for fun, swimming at K9 Lap of Luxury in Lynden and camping in our giant tent that fits her queen size air mattress and my twin size air mattress.
Even though we have tons of fun, I never forget my job. When my nose smells the cortisol going down, I will lick her feet if they are available. Feet are the best for licking, but arms and legs are nice too.
Sometimes Lisa ignores these licks. Maybe she thinks I am just loving her. I am loving her always, but these licks are serious. I will stand in her way if she does not respond. If that does not work, I will jump up on her to block her movement until she takes her meds. The faster the cortisol is dropping, the more insistent I get. I will even wake up at night to let her know her levels are low. Otherwise, I might lose her.
My nose might only alert me every few weeks, but if Lisa is anxious, it will alert me more often. I alerted her twice a day when she was worried about her surgery in October.
To help my nose be extra fancy, we do K9 Nose Work competitions. I was trained to smell for Lisa’s cortisol using samples of her saliva, but the competitions do not use her saliva. Instead, I sniff for Q-tips that have drops of essential oils on them, like birch, anise and clove.
Nose work has taken Lisa and me all over the United States. We have been to Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Alabama and Florida.
In Florida, we went to Disney World. That was the best trip ever. I got to go on every ride that did not have a height requirement except for Peter Pan.
Traveling is fun and so is school. When we are not zooming all over the world, we are being outdoor recreation majors at Western Washington University. This is a great major because we can do it together. Before, Lisa wanted to go into med school or nursing school, but that was when her health was going down. She knew her body could not handle that. Plus, it would have been tricky to navigate all those lab classes with a service dog, even a smart one like me.
With the rec major, we can do everything because everyone is supportive. Our fellow students will make accommodations for us, like meeting us in the library instead of their house if they have a cat, or choosing an easier hike so we can come too.
The faculty and staff are also great. Professor Randy Burtz and Program Secretary Katey Roemmele are some of our favorites. Both of them loved Hugo when he was a rec major. Now that I am a rec major, they love me too. Katey gives me the best cookies ever and Randy lies on the floor so he can rub my tummy extra good.
Randy and Lisa have a special bond. When Lisa and I take breaks from being recreation majors, we come back to say hello and update him on life. He understands how much we love each other.
Over the summer, Randy camped with us for Lisa’s internship visit at Birch Bay State Park. He brought his big old Airstream travel trailer, his two sons and his golden retriever. Lisa’s rec major friend was there too.
One evening we all sat on the beach to watch the sunset. I listened to the humans chat as the waves lapped on the shore. My head was on Lisa’s lap and my nose was going sniff, sniff, sniff just in case I smelled the smell.
