Barney is a two-year old Irish doodle who is one judge's secret weapon. Barney is trained to accompany Judge Howard Sturim everywhere he goes and alert him if his blood sugar levels are off. Even though alert dogs have become a controversial topic in the past few years, Sturim feels like Barney has been an excellent investment in his health. The judge had this to say about Barney's work, "“As time goes by, you become more and more blind to when a low blood sugar is coming and that’s the value in Barney, he tells me where my blood sugar is going and that’s a very valuable tool.”
At first, Sturim kept Barney a secret. For 19 straight trials, Barney napped right under the judge's feet and no one was any the wiser. But during the 20th trial, Barney let out a sneeze and his collar gave off a jingle and after an extended pause and a lot of confused looks, Judge Sturim knew the jig was up. Nowadays, he introduces Barney right away to the courtroom. Barney has come to be more than just a tool for maintaining Sturim's health, he's also become his good friend and a joyful part of his life.