Brooklyn Park Mayor Jeff Lunde typically hands out citizenship awards to men and women. But that recognition was spread to a new species last month when Christi Smith's dog, Tatortot, received the city's first-ever Good Canine Award.
The episode that merited the honor happened one night early last October, when Tatortot began acting strange. Smith's son, Peyton, was sleeping in his bedroom, but the then-10-month-old pit bull kept going back to the boy.
Even after taking Tatortot outside, Smith couldn't figure out why the dog kept returning to Peyton to give him attention. Smith lay by her 4-year-old son and noticed his breathing patterns weren't normal, so she rushed him to the hospital.
It turns out Peyton had dangerously low blood glucose levels, and Tatortot was smelling a bodily chemical, ketones, which indicates this type of problem.
