Sophomore Bella Getty was diagnosed with type one diabetes when she was a child. Since then, Getty has been matched with her service dog, Newton. 

“He [Newton] can smell if my blood sugar is high or low and he alerts me so I can fix what’s wrong,” Getty said. “Newton has been trained since birth, so he has been trained to smell the specific smell when my blood sugar is high or low.”

Getty was matched with Newton when she was in fourth grade when Newton was just a puppy. 

“I’ve had Newton for around six years and yes, he is my first service dog. The service dog place was called Nation Institute for Diabetic Alert Dogs (NIDAD), and he came from 4E kennels which is a special place to get service dogs for people with diabetes,” Getty said. 

Getty states that Newton is not so different from any other “normal” dog while he is at home. 

“Though he is a service dog, he’s still a dog. He likes to rough house with my dad and always expects a treat after anything he does. The lady who assigned Newton to me could tell I was more introverted, so she matched me with an introverted dog. It has worked very very well. He is essentially another sibling to me,” Getty said.

When Getty’s blood sugar gets too low or gets too high, Newton’s job is to alert her, so she can fix the problem immediately. 

“He alerts the same way for both things. To alert me, he will paw at my legs if I’m standing, or if I’m sitting, he will get up into my lap, and he watches me fix it,” Getty said.  

Since transitioning to the high school from the junior high, Getty has experienced a few things that she has labeled as difficulties. 

“Last year when I was a freshman, they told me I can’t have a dog here [the school] so they took me to the main office, and we got that all sorted out by calling the junior high principal. I’ve also experienced that if people get loud or something happens he might start shaking from the people,” Getty said. 

Getty would like people to know that having a service dog is more than just having her dog with her at all times. 

“I mean, yes it is great having Newton with me at all times, but it can also be challenging. Typically, people ask if they can pet him. I do say no because he’s working, but I do thank them for asking because some people aren’t always so courteous to ask. Sometimes, it can also be hard because he gets stuck when walking with me, like around a pole or something. That can be hard to work around when you’re in a group full of people,” Getty said. 

Getty has had experiences where students did not respect Newton as a service dog. 

“I’ve had some situations where people bark at him. When that happens, I get kind of angry but I can’t really do anything about it. It has not happened since we got it sorted out with the school though, so I’m grateful for that,” Getty said.  

Getty’s teachers, James Lowe and Doug Spayd are spending their first year having a service dog in their classrooms throughout the school day. 

 “There really isn’t anything different about having a service dog in class. The dog is there but sort of like one of the students in terms of fitting in. He has an assigned seat (his own (blanket), a task to do and others respect him and leave him alone to do his assigned task. It’s a really good opportunity for us all to learn about service dogs,” Lowe said. 

“Newton is not a disruption to the class; the other students are very understanding of Newton’s presence; and one can tell Newton is dedicated to his purpose/function for Bella,” Spayd said.