Do you know of anyone with an allergy dog?

How many kids can say they’ve never eaten a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?

8-year-old Riley Mers can say that.

And no, she’s not from another planet.

She’s from Monument, Colorado.

The reason Riley can’t eat PB&J is because she’s allergic to peanuts – so severely allergic that when she stepped on a peanut shell one time, it nearly burned through her skin.

For virtually her entire life, Riley has been unable to leave her home or her yard.

Going to school?

Forget about it.

Riley studies online, mostly, according to the Colorado Springs Gazette.

And when she does go to school, she has to sit in a special room of her own.

After all, what if some other kid brought peanut butter and jelly for lunch?

Riley is so sensitive to peanuts that even peanut dust can cause her to have a life-threatening allergic reaction.

But recently, Riley’s life changed.

No, she’s still allergic to peanuts.

But now, she has a friend who sniffs them out for her and steers her away from danger – a friend with four paws and an amazing nose.

Back in February, Riley’s parents got her a Portuguese water dog named Rock’O – a dog specially trained to sniff out peanuts.

And her world is now beginning to open up.

“It’s just so life-changing you wouldn’t believe it,” she told Gazette reporter Brian Newsome.

You probably know that dogs have an amazing sense of smell – a much better sense of smell than humans have.

They can be trained to sniff out drugs, bombs and other dangerous things.

So why not peanuts?

Thanks to specialized training, Rock’O has learned to sniff out even tiny amounts of peanut residue – amounts so small they can’t be seen or smelled by the average human.

And thanks to Rock’O, Riley and her parents don’t have to worry so much every time she leaves home.

Rock’O has already saved Riley from a dangerous encounter with peanuts at least three times.

According to USA TODAY, he kept her from going into a jewelry store that had peanut candy on the counter, and he kept her away from an area in her own yard where some squirrels were eating peanuts.

And according to a report by NBC’s “Today” show, Rock’O detected some peanut M&M’s in a candy store – candy Riley’s mother didn’t see.

Rock’O then steered Riley into a peanut-free aisle that contained candy she could safely eat.

Believe or not, it was Riley’s first trip ever to a candy store.

Until she got Rock’O, she couldn’t take that chance.

Riley now calls Rock’O her “guardian angel.”

Thanks to him, she says she can now go to birthday parties and the mall.

And she’s even thinking about going to college one day – something that seemed almost impossible just a few months ago. How excited is she?

“I could do a backflip,” she told Newsome. “My friends – it’s not their fault that they eat peanut butter.”

via Nick.com’s Nick News Weekly Stories.