First published February 13, 2022.
Ruby is an assistance dog from Australia who became briefly famous when a photo of her squeezed into a hospital bed beside her owner, Shauna Darcy, spread online. Darcy says Ruby noticed something was wrong before she did, kept nudging her until she called for help, and then refused to leave her side once she was admitted. It is a moving story, and also a useful one for understanding what assistance dogs can genuinely do and where their limits are.
The short version: Darcy lives with anxiety and a rare inherited connective tissue disorder, vascular Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. Ruby was trained to help with the anxiety. Over time Darcy noticed the dog also reacting to changes in her heart rate, and on one occasion that alert prompted her to call an ambulance during an episode of atrial fibrillation. In her own words, as reported by The Dodo and later iHeartDogs: “I wouldn’t be alive without her.”
Who Shauna and Ruby are
Darcy is from Warrnambool, on the coast of Victoria. In April 2018 her local paper, The Standard, described her as a 20-year-old who had struggled with anxiety and panic attacks since her teens, sometimes several a day, to the point where leaving the house could make her physically ill. A heart condition made the anxiety worse.
Ruby, a grey and white Staffordshire-type dog, was adopted first as a companion. About two years later she began training as a psychiatric assistance dog through mindDog, an Australian not-for-profit founded in 2011 that helps people with mental health conditions train and certify their own dogs. Darcy told The Standard that Ruby picks up the early signs of a panic attack, such as fidgeting or heavy breathing, and paws at her leg. Once Darcy sits down, Ruby lies across her lap, a technique trainers call deep pressure therapy.
“She alerts me to a panic attack before they even happen,” Darcy told the paper.
The day Ruby raised the alarm
As Darcy later described it, Ruby started behaving the way she does before a panic attack, pawing at her and trying to climb on her, even though Darcy felt fine. She decided to call for help anyway. By the time paramedics arrived she was in pain and barely conscious, and she was told her heart had gone into atrial fibrillation, an irregular and often fast heart rhythm.
Some early versions of this story called it “arterial fibrillation”. That is not a real diagnosis; the correct term is atrial fibrillation, which affects the upper chambers of the heart. The famous picture of Ruby curled up next to her in the hospital bed was taken during that admission.
Darcy also describes what Ruby does when she faints: the dog lies on top of her, pressing down with her weight, and licks her hands and face until she comes round. Ruby later got an updated vest explaining these behaviours so that bystanders would not mistake them for an attack.
What vascular Ehlers-Danlos syndrome is
Ehlers-Danlos syndromes are a group of inherited disorders of connective tissue, the material that gives skin, joints and blood vessels their strength. Taken together, all types affect at least 1 in 5,000 people worldwide, according to the US National Library of Medicine’s MedlinePlus Genetics. Most people with EDS have the hypermobile or classical types.
The vascular type is rarer and more serious. It is usually caused by changes in the COL3A1 gene, and the main danger is fragile blood vessels and organs that can rupture without warning, leading to internal bleeding, bowel perforation or stroke. Easy bruising is common. It is inherited in an autosomal dominant pattern, so one altered copy of the gene is enough.
News reports often called it a “rare heart condition”. That is a simplification: vEDS is a whole-body connective tissue disorder that mainly affects blood vessels. Darcy’s fainting and rhythm problems are part of her personal account, and the reports do not explain exactly how they relate to her diagnosis.
Can a dog detect heart problems?
Dogs read people closely. They notice changes in breathing, posture, movement, sweat and probably smell, and a dog that lives with one person all day becomes very good at spotting when something is “off”. That is likely what Ruby responds to. Some organisations train cardiac alert dogs for conditions that cause fainting, and owners report real benefits.
What a dog cannot do is measure blood pressure, read a heart rhythm or tell the difference between a panic attack and atrial fibrillation. Ruby’s alert was valuable because Darcy took it seriously and called professionals, who made the diagnosis. Scientific evidence on medical alert dogs is still limited and mixed, so an alert dog is best seen as an extra layer of warning, never a replacement for monitoring, medication or emergency care.
If you have chest pain, a racing or irregular heartbeat, or you faint, call emergency services or talk to a doctor, whether or not a pet has noticed anything.
Assistance dogs and public access
Darcy has spoken about one frustration that many handlers share: being refused entry to shops, cafés and transport. In Australia, an assistance dog trained to help a person with a disability is covered by federal disability discrimination law, and organisations such as mindDog issue identification for the dogs they certify. Psychiatric assistance dogs are less familiar to the public than guide dogs, which is why Darcy wanted people to know they have similar rights.
A few practical points for anyone who meets a working dog:
- Do not pet, call or feed a dog in a vest without asking. It may be in the middle of watching its handler.
- If a dog is pawing at or lying on a person who has collapsed, it may be doing its job. Check on the person and call for help.
- Not every disability is visible. A dog may be supporting anxiety, epilepsy, diabetes or a heart condition.
Why this story stays with people
The hospital photo works because it shows something most dog owners recognise: the animal does not understand the diagnosis, but it understands that its person needs it close. Darcy’s account is one person’s experience, reported second-hand, and it should be read that way. Even so, it shows how a well-trained dog can give someone the confidence to leave the house, the nudge to ask for help, and company in a frightening place.
Sources: Photos: Shauna Darcy, via The Dodo. The Standard (Warrnambool), 26 April 2018; iHeartDogs, based on The Dodo; mindDog Australia; MedlinePlus Genetics: Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.
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