Help is on the horizon for high-risk sufferers of diabetes, with dogs being trained up to sense when diabetics are in danger.
More than 208,000 New Zealanders have diabetes, many of whom are at risk of potentially fatal complications.
Type 1 diabetic Brenda Fergusson injects herself daily with insulin, without it the disease could prove deadly.
"I've been a type one diabetic for 27, coming up 28 years," said Fergusson. "The struggle for me is having regular low blood sugars, despite having regular blood sugar testing."
In the not-too-distant future, Fergusson could have the aid of diabetic response dog to indicate when her blood-sugar levels are awry.
Marika Bell from the Kotuku Animal Foundation is currently training a German Sheperd to sniff out when a diabetic has dangerously low blood-sugar levels.
Former police dog 'Uni' is taught to target a "scent stick", which he presses his nose against.
"He starts to really look for that smell, and that's how we create scent discrimination for a dog, who hopefully will be an alert dog for a particular type of disease," said Bell.
Fergusson is sending Uni's trainers samples of her clothes that contain sweat resulting from one of her low blood-sugar attacks.
The idea for diabetes response dogs is new in New Zealand; Uni will be the first one in the country if he passes the stringent tests.
Uni still has a year to go before he is ready for the
field.