My young son is allergic to peanuts. If he is exposed to peanuts or peanut products, he could get a rash. Or, he could die.

As his mother, it is my job to protect my son, everyday. My son trusts me; his life is in my hands. And I am vigilant.

We read labels. We quiz restaurant chefs. We bring our own cake to birthday parties. We know what foods to avoid. We educate his teachers, camp directors and sitters. And we carry an EpiPen everywhere we go just in case. We have many tools to help us cope with my son’s allergy, but we are only human!

However, we’re not only human anymore!! Recently, we have added the most wonderful tool to our arsenal; Duncan, our beloved detection dog. Duncan is my son’s best friend and he is my hero. Equally vigilant and dedicated to my son as I am, Duncan is keenly more aware than I can physically be; Duncan inconspicuously sniffs the hands of friends when they come into our home. If our guest has been eating peanuts, Duncan immediately let’s us know that our guest must wash his hands or brush his teeth before visiting with my son. Duncan is a vested service dog and, as such, can accompany us anywhere. He may go, and because of his behavior, is welcomed to restaurant, hotels, school, shopping – anywhere my son needs to go!

When my son started asking for a dog, a friend who is a policeman suggested we look into a detection dog – one trained to detect peanuts. We thought this was a great idea, though we had never heard of an allergy dog. When we contacted Southern Star Ranch, the experts there said they could make this happen. And they did. The rest is history.

We love our dog but, even more, we love the fact that our son is more independent, and can be confident with Duncan, committed to protecting him, by his side; we are eternally grateful to the experts at Southern Star Ranch who found Duncan (a “hypoallergenic breed” since our son has asthma!!) and trained him to be exactly what we needed – a loving companion, and ever alert guardian against peanuts. If you ask us, Lassie’s got nothing on Duncan!