Official State Dog of Texas: Blue Lacy
First recognized by the Texas State Senate in 2001 as “a true Texas breed,” the Blue Lacy was designated the official State Dog Breed of Texas on June 18, 2005. Originating in the mid 1800’s, the Blue Lacy is named for the Lacy Brothers of Burnet County. The Blue Lacy Game Dog breed is officially recognized by the National Kennel Club (NKC).
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Farley, a spaniel cross, is trained to smell the scent of peanuts and peanut residue to help people who are fatally allergic to peanuts.
Dogs trained to help people with severe peanut allergies
Jun. 28 2009, Herald/Catrina Rawson
FLORENCE – Farley desperately scavenged through the blisteringly hot warehouse, searching through wooden boxes and discarded toy sets.
His trainer, Leslie Staven, encouraged him to keep looking for the one thing he frantically searched for throughout the purposefully disheveled array of boxes: half a peanut in a sealed plastic baggie.
Farley is a spaniel mix who was trained at Sharon Perry’s Southern Star Ranch in Florence to detect peanuts and peanut residue for those who are fatally allergic. Perry’s life-saving operation began after she was laid off at 52 from her chemical engineering job with 3-M.
“I had trained dogs since I was a little kid anyways, and it just blossomed,” Perry said. “We spent about a year on that first dog trying to get all the bugs worked out, because it’s not really the same way you would train a narcotics dog.”
She trained narcotics dogs a number of years ago, and peanut dogs became an extension.
All future peanut dogs are adopted from local shelters that euthanize animals.
Each dog is painstakingly selected based on the family’s needs. Perry said she sees about 300 dogs before selecting one to train for a family.
Dogs are trained for six months, where their energy is channeled into a tireless drive to work for their owners, and still settle down for three hours at a dinner table.
Any tiny trace amount of peanuts are detected by the dogs, and each dog has a different way of signaling when they have discovered their target.
“Farley tends to move around in kind of a half-circle and whine,” Staven said. “Other dogs kneel down, but the indication is always to sit.”
Dogs sniff food, hands and breath for peanut residue.
Perry keeps her operation close-knit in terms of trainers in case something goes awry with the dog after it joins a family.
“I know how the dog was trained. I know what the dog was like, and I know how it was when it left,” Perry said. “A lot of people don’t understand how severe this allergy is. We’re talking about dying.”
Peanut dogs cost $9,995, which includes two weeks of training for the owner. Perry intends to train dogs that also detect tree nuts, seeds, soy and paprika.
“Every dog ends up being the favorite,” Staven said. “It’s hard to see them go away, but when you see how these dogs are improving the quality of these children’s lives, it’s worth it.”
Karen Gensel of Tampa Bay, Fla., stumbled across Perry’s work while researching peanut dogs on the Internet. Her 9-year-old son, Billy, goes into anaphylactic shock if he comes into contact with peanut residue.
Through money inherited from her mother, Gensel was able to purchase her son’s life-saving best friend, Remy, a black Labrador that Perry trained in April 2008.
“She’s made all the difference in the world,” Gensel said.
Prior to obtaining Remy, the Gensels could not eat in restaurants or stay in hotels, without risking their son falling victim to a fatal allergic reaction.
Gensel said Remy opened up a new world for Billy.
“I want him to have as much of a childhood as he can without me hovering,” Gensel said. “Remy has given him a whole new sense of independence. She never had an off day. I trust her. If she signals peanuts are present, then by-God they’re there.”
National Canine Research Council