For most dogs, the best part of the day is when they get to gobble down a meal or play rambunctiously with their favorite toy. But for a 2-year-old Rottweiler pup named Daisy, there’s nothing more exciting than curling up next to her human brother and snuggling him to sleep at night.
“She’s his shadow,” Brittany Troilo, Daisy’s mom, told The Dodo. “She sleeps beside him every night.”
Daisy joined her family two years ago as a young puppy and has been filling their home with love ever since. When she first got there, the little pup fell instantly in love with her brother and hasn’t left his side since.
“She can’t get enough of him,” Troilo said.
During the day, Daisy and her brother like to play tug-of-war with their toys and fetch in the backyard. But nighttime is when the true fun begins.
As soon as the clock strikes 8:30 p.m. every night, Daisy makes her way to the stairs and waits for her brother’s bedtime routine to start.
“She’ll sit by the stairs and wait,” Troilo said. “As soon as we start going upstairs, she’ll jump on the bed, wait for her brother to brush his teeth, and then she knows it’s cuddle time.”
Then, when her brother is finally snuggled up in bed, Daisy hooks her arm around his and gently drifts off to sleep.
“She holds him every night when she sleeps,” Troilo said.
Daisy will usually spend the whole night cuddled up alongside her brother. But one night, Troilo woke up at 2 a.m. to see Daisy sitting alert next to her bed, and she knew something was wrong.
“My son has type 1 diabetes and Daisy could tell that he was having an emergency even though she’s not trained to do that,” Troilo said. “Now, if his sugar is high or low in the middle of the night, she comes and wakes me up so I can tend to him.”
Not only is Daisy aware of her brother’s silent emergencies, but she’s also aware of the medical equipment on his body — like the Dexcom glucose tracker that he uses at night.
The Dexcom plays an important role in keeping her brother safe: It monitors his sugar levels and alerts his parents if there’s something off. Somehow, Daisy knows not to touch her brother’s Dexcom, even when they’re sleeping.
“She’s very aware of what it is,” Troilo said. “If it’s on his belly, she won’t sleep on his belly.”
And, when Daisy hooks her arm around her brother’s to cuddle, she’ll make sure to steer clear of the device.
“She’s very smart,” Troilo said. “She’s a special girl.”
Recently, Daisy’s family welcomed another Rottweiler puppy into their home. Daisy is obsessed with playing with her new sister, Lilly, but not even the puppy can get in the way of Daisy’s bedtime routine.
“She knows even with the puppy that at 8:30, it’s time to start getting ready for bed,” Troilo said.
No matter what she’s doing, Daisy will drop everything to join her human brother for their nightly cuddle session.
And in the morning, the sweet pup will wake up ready to enjoy a new day, all while counting down the moments until she can curl back up in her brother’s bed and sleep with her arms around him again.