Yesterday (April 28, 2016) we brought home a beautiful 10 week old Cocker Spaniel, we named Aiden, with the intention of training him at home to become a Diabetic Service Dog. I did research before choosing the Cocker breed looking for a small dog (around 25 lbs or less) with a very strong sense of smell. The Cocker met both requirements, and we were fortunate to find a breeder not far from us.
We do not plan to start any major training with him until he has become comfortable with his new home, however we are still going to take advantage of any lows/highs that come up while he is getting used to his new home. Last night was a little rough, and little sleep was obtained. Only one of the many hurdles to come in the future, but hurdles are meant to be jumped.
About me: My name is Lori, I have been a Type 1 Diabetic since 1991, I was 15 at Diagnosis. At age 22, when I was pregnant with my oldest daughter, I began losing my ability to sense when my sugars were dropping. As the years have passed I have lost about 90% of my ability to detect lows and just shy of 100% of my ability to detect highs. Both of which are very dangerous for a Diabetic. I have had so many near death experiences due to lows, I once dropped as low as 18 mg/dl. While high sugars are not as immediately dangerous, they can lead to very serious complications later on. So my not recognizing when my sugar is high is JUST as dangerous as when I am low, even if it is not immediately evident.
I started checking into getting a Diabetic Alert Dog (or DAD) in 2008, however I could not find any either locally or that I could afford. I mean, $25,000 for a dog is a little much for a regular person. So, I put the idea on the back burner. However over the years my ability to detect highs/lows only deteriorated and now, in 2016 I am at a point where something MUST be done.
I run a Type 1 Diabetes group on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/T1Diabetics) and I just decided to ask the members about their dogs that seemed to alert with no training at all to get an idea of what my chances would be of getting a dog that already had some skill. I was quite impressed with everyone's success stories. One person even suggested I check out a site that could help me train my dog via online courses. It is called www.http://servicedogacademy.com/wp/ and I plan to use their techniques and tips to help Aiden along his journey to becoming my first DAD.
I hope anyone looking into training their own DAD will follow my and Aiden's story.
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