Diabetes-sniffing dog, Jedi, saves 7-year-old young master, Luke

LukeNuttall, a seven-year-old Los Angeles boy, has the force ofJedi his diabetes-sniffing service dog with him.

Last week, when everyone in his house was fast asleep, Luke's blood sugar dropped.

The persistent pup was able to sniff the change in Luke's blood and woke up Luke's mother,Dorrie Nuttall.Hekept alerting her by bowing a gesture he uses to indicate low blood-sugar levels. He raises his paw to indicate higherlevels,NuttalltoldCNN.

Dorrie tested Luke's blood and saw that his levels were falling fast despite his continuous glucose monitor showing he was OK.

She gave Luke a glucose tablet, thenposted a photo of monitor's screen along with an alert Jedi.

'This is a picture of a Jedi saving his boy'

HerFacebook pageandwebsitearefocused on spreading awareness and describingwhat living with Type 1 diabetes is like for Luke.The postquicklybecame popular on social media with over 180,000 shares and close to 400 reactions.

Many Twitter users began spreading Nuttall's message, too.

NuttalladoptedJediwhenLukewasdiagnosedat the age of two. She worked with a local company who offeredhelp in training the puppy. Now,Jediknows how to alert anyone at home whenLuke'sblood sugar levels go up ordown.

Jedi's powers

A dog's sense of smell is more powerful than a human's by a factor of between 10,000 and 100,000, James Walker, former director of the Sensory Research Institute at Florida State University, told PBS.

Alexandra Horowitz, a dog-cognition researcher, compared the difference between the power of a dog's nose and a human's in her book Inside of a Dog. She explains that while humans might notice that sugar has been added in a cup of coffee, a dog is able sense a teaspoon of sugar in a million gallons of waterthat's about two Olympic-sized pools.

In some cases,Jediis up to 10 minutes faster than Luke's monitor in noticing blood-sugar changes.

When Jedi is right, he's rewarded with treats, toys and food. Nuttallwrote on Facebook that Jediis still just a "living, breathing creature," and can make mistakes, so the familyconfirms every one of Jedi's alerts by pricking Luke's finger and testing the blood.

"[Jedi] saves Luke from lots of the crummy feelings and health issues ... butJedi'sjob goes beyond alerting.He also saves Luke from being alone, from being scared; he is his constant companion," Nuttall said.