An Alabama service dog recently was the star of a popular TikTok video after following his nose through the snow to help a 5-year-old girl with diabetes, and his owners are hoping its popularity will help shine a light on the full reach of service animals.
Shelby Landreth, of Madison, Ala., said she and her husband, Bryan, learned their daughter had Type 1 diabetes in 2022 while on a vacation in Atlanta that quickly got scary and resulted in Paisley, who was three years old at the time, spending three days in the hospital. Following her diagnosis, The Landreths tried different types of modern technology, including insulin pumps, continuous glucose monitors and more, before they ultimately decided in December 2024 that a service dog would be the best fit for their family.
“Technology allows us to see the trends in our blood sugar and make adjustments, but there’s a lot of instances where technology gets quiet,” said Landreth. “Technology is technology and it’s all Bluetooth, so you know, when she goes swimming or if she gets too far away, those things can cause it to disconnect or malfunction or just be off. With her being so little, she doesn’t feel the changes in her blood sugar, as a lot of younger type ones don’t, so you would have never known the difference.”
That’s when Tracker, a golden doodle service dog, came into their lives. Landreth said Tracker, who is a little over a year old, has made it not only easier to monitor Paisley’s blood sugar, but more accurate too.
“A service dog can smell when there’s a change and let us know before it happens or when it’s dropping,” said Landreth. “Tracker beats technology by about 15 or 20 minutes. If you’re using technology, it does have a lag time, but Tracker can pick it up exactly when it hits that point, or even if it’s headed that way, which is just super helpful.”
Paisley Landreth of Madison, Ala., with her service dog, Tracker. (Brandi Lynn Photography)Brandi Lynn Photography
Landreth shares Paisley and Tracker’s relationship and experiences on her TikTok, @LandofTD1, regularly, which is how a recent video caught the interest of nearly 50,000 viewers. In the TikTok, Tracker can be seen alerting the family that Paisley’s blood sugar was trending low during the area’s winter storm on Jan. 11, despite Paisley being at a friend’s house down the street.
“I was just cleaning and out of nowhere he came up and started pawing at me,” said Landreth. “I was like, ‘she’s not here,’ but he came back, super persistent. I’ve heard stories of dogs being able to smell for miles, and I said there’s only one way to find out. I let him go outside and then he just followed her scent. It was really cool because, had it been any other normal day, you would have seen him following the scent, but you wouldn’t have been able to see it with your own eyes because it’s just grass. But being that it had just snowed, we could actually see him tracing her scent and following the footsteps all the way down the neighborhood to the neighbor’s house. And then he sat on the porch, waiting on her to come out to let him know that she was okay.”
Landreth said she hopes the video, as well as the others she shares on her page, shows people how valuable service animals can be in the day-to-day as well as during crucial moments when technology might not be available.
“That’s something that you might hear stories about, but you’re not going to believe it unless you see it,” said Landreth. “I think it just brings a lot of awareness to how incredible service dogs can be and what a tool they can be for people. I think that some people don’t realize just how far of a reach the world of service dogs has.”
You can follow along with Paisley and Tracker through the Landreth’s TikTok page here.
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