Beagle to fetch humanitarian prize

-- A Florida dog that chomped for help by cell phone, saving the life of her owner in a diabetic seizure, will fetch a humanitarian award here Monday.

Belle the beagle dialed the emergency number 911 on her owner Kevin Weaver's cell phone last February when he began to convulse and lapsed into unconsciousness.

Weaver, a resident of the central Florida city of Ocoee, originally had gotten Belle for companionship. But after learning about a nonprofit organization that trains dogs to alert diabetic owners of oncoming seizures and to respond, he decided to have her trained as a medical assistant.

With a lick and sniff of Weaver's nose, Belle can detect his blood sugar levels. When they drop below normal, she is trained to warn him by whining and pawing at him.

Belle was doing just that on February 7, but Weaver thought she just needed to go outside. Minutes later he had slipped into a diabetic seizure.

The well-trained Belle retrieved his wireless phone and, using her teeth, pressed the "9" key, which was programmed to dial 911. Paramedics arrived on the scene just minutes later. --