WHY ARE WE SO PASSIONATE ABOUT TRAINING DIABETIC ALERT DOGS?
Type 1 Diabetes changed Owner, Christina Gates and her families lives forever on March 3, 2014. This is the day that her daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. She didn’t know anything about Type 1 Diabetes, let alone know what the warning signs looked like. Her daughter was a normal teenage girl, silly for boys, singing all the time, and hanging out with friends where her main goals in life at the time. She was also at a time in her life that she didn’t share much about herself let a lone her body changing with her Mom. That’s just normal teenage girl behavior. Then like a blink of the eye they were rushing to the ER with a child that had a racing heart and a very low Oxygen reading. After some tests it was determined her daughter in fact had Type 1 Diabetes. It was the scariest day of their lives. Rushing from on ER to being transport by Ambulance under special care because she was so critical. Her blood sugar was well over 700 and she was in DKA.
That’s where our journey with Type 1 Diabetes began it was a scary time in our lives. We felt incredibly a lone, confused, angry, scared, overwhelmed and so many other feelings.
But we had to find some happiness in all of the craziness. That’s how we got started on training Diabetic Alert Dogs. Christina has been training dogs since she was a very young child and thought this can not be that hard we just needed to find out how to do it. So she went out on a mission to study everything and everyone that she could find. She read books and attended seminars and started training the dog they already had at home. She successfully trained their Wheaten Terrier to alert to her daughters Low Blood Sugar fluctuations. Christina continues to stay current with training methods by reading, seeking out other trainers that are knowledgable with training Diabetic Alert Dogs to make sure her training stays sharp and the dogs are being trained to work at the top of their game.
Not only does she understand the need for a Service Dog that is going to be on the Top of its Game and be able to preform its job. She also knows what it’s like to be a Mom of a child that lives with Type 1 Diabetes. She knows the challenges a diabetic person and their family face on a daily basis.
We believe that a good Diabetic Alert Dog possesses the temperament of a facility dog, the natural desire to use their nose like a detection dog, and a strong work ethic like a herding, working or sporting breed.
Socializing and Confidence building consists of lots of different surfaces, sounds, sights, and people. While we do not always let everyone pet our pups when we are out they are exposed to many people, things, and places.
We start our Diabetic Alert Dogs in Training out using both a low and an in range blood sugar sample right way so they learn they learn scent discrimination to figure out that we want them to find the scent in the low blood sugar sample. We start out using samples collected by Type 1 Diabetic in small tins with holes in them. This is how they eat their daily kibble...by working for it. Below is Lola, a nine week old labrador retriever pup, who is already learning that she has to find the tin with the low blood sugar sample in it, sniff the tin and paw at us in order to get her food. Her desired behavior is marked with a clicker and she’s immediately rewarded.
Sniff, paw, click, kibble. Sniff, paw, click, kibble. Sniff, paw, click, kibble.
When the puppies have finished their vaccinations we begin their public access training. While they are young we want them to be around lots of people in controlled environments so they don’t grow up to be fearful of strangers. We also have kids and teenagers come to the facility to spend time with them, including baths and grooming. All interactions with people and other dogs are closely monitored to make sure they are positive for the puppies.
As the puppies continue with their training they are challenged with more training tins that have low blood sugar samples, in range blood sugar samples, plus other odors such as treats, gum, pieces of tennis ball…you name it, we will put it in a tin…and we do hundreds of repetitions to proof them off of false alerts. Pictured below is Buddy, a young black lab that is excelling in his low blood sugar and public access training.
As adolescents we start teaching them that we are their world and all good things come from us. We don’t want a service dog thinking every human is a source of food, attention, and praise. We want them to be focused on their handler and their job. In fact, we want them to mentally shrug when they see other humans, or better yet ignore them.
Our Diabetic Alert Dogs are taught to alert to low blood sugar in "escalation" activities. At first they nudge with their nose, then they paw. They can also be taught to jump on their owner if they don't respond to the nudge or pawing. They are taught to fetch an insulin pack and bring it back to their owner.
To begin the process please fill out the Form located “Apply Here.” We will go over your information and contact you with any additional questions. We will then set up a face-to-face meeting to get to know each other better. If both parties want to move forward we require a non refundable 25% deposit towards your dog. Once we receive your deposit the search begins to find you the best job to fit your lifestyle. Please be patient with us as sometimes it takes a bit to find the perfect match.