A Diabetic Alert Dog or DAD is a dog trained
to detect and alert to his Diabetic or Hypoglycemic owner's low (hypoglycemia) or high (hyperglycemia) blood sugar.
Diabetes and Hypoglycemia are diseases that
affect millions of people. Many of these people are children.
Low Blood Sugar or Hypoglycemia can have especially severe
consequences.
Symptoms of mild low blood sugar (below 70mg/dL) include:
Sweating
Nervousness, shakiness, and weakness
Extreme hunger and slight nausea
Dizziness and headache
Blurred vision
A fast heartbeat and feeling anxious
Symptoms of moderate low blood sugar (below 40 mg/dL)
include:
Inability to concentrate
Confusion and irritability
Slurred speech
Unsteadiness when standing or walking
Muscle twitching
Personality changes, such as anger or crying
Symptoms of severe low blood sugar (usually below 20 mg/dL)
include:
Seizure
Loss of consciousness (coma)
Stroke
Death
Children are especially at risk because often times they
do not understand what is happening within their own body or how to fix it. Parents feel helpless and worried sick wondering
if their child will wake up in the morning. This causes the parents to have to wake many times during the night to check
their child's Blood Sugar levels.
A Diabetic Alert Dog can alleviate many of these worries.
A fully trained DAD will alert whenever the person's blood sugar is out of normal range. How a dog is trained will determine
that range but many times a normal range is between 90 and 180 mg/dL. Anything below or above that and the dog will
alert.
I want to introduce you to a wonderful 4 year old girl
named Cadence. Cadence has Type-1 Diabetes and her parents have been raising money to get a puppy to train that has
been imprinted on diabetic scent.
Cadence took home our Australian Shepherd Puppy
#1. His new name is Fish and Fish has a wonderful nose for the diabetic scent.
An Update: 7 month old Fish Alerting to Cadence's Low Blood Sugar
Fish had his first alert tonight!! Cadence
told me her belly hurt while she was in the tub. I got her out and she sat on the floor, fish beelined for her, planted his
paws on her chest, and started nuzzling and licking under her chin!! Good boy Fish!!!
Shadow
is doing wonderfully. He is sleeping through the night. He usually wakes up if we are up and moving around the house. I actually
felt bad because I thought he was just playing with R. last night. She was on the floor with him. He was jumping on her and
pulling at her hair. She said she was hungry. I told her to wash up and sit at the table for dinner. Shadow then became very
subdued and just layed down. I told him it was time to check R. (we usually check her at the table). He walked over to us
and I picked him up. When she checked, she was 63! I really think he was trying to tell us she was low! We had him smell her
test strip and she blow in his face. I told him "Good low Shadow! Good low!" He was so excited. After she ate, she was playing.
Shadow when over to her and started pawing at her. He then came to me and pawed at me. I decided to check her. She was 306!
Since we are working on the lows, I used a monotone voice and said, "She's high Shadow. We will take care of it." After that,
Shadow resumed playing with his toys. I think he is teaching me more than I am teaching him right now.
9/26/2011
8 weeks old
How are Puppies Imprinted on Diabetic Scent?
We imprint puppies beginning at 3 days of age because
the only senses they have are smell and touch. We only train through positive reinforcement.
As a newborn, the puppy is exposed to the scent sample and then immediately placed on mom to nurse. The puppy therefore
learns at a young age that the smell equals food.
As the puppy ages we use different food rewards and also increase
the difficulty of the scent by placing it in various objects such as scent tubes, cleaned altoids containers, baby food jars,
etc. Imprinted puppies still need training once they go to their homes.
Adult dogs can also be trained to become DADs but the
process usually takes longer than it does with imprinted puppies.
Scent Tubes
Scent Tubes
Our Australian Shepherd puppy at 7 weeks
of age working Diabetic Scent. This is puppy #1 "Fish" going to Cadence who is featured in the videos above
This is video of our Australian Shepherd
puppies at 2 1/2 weeks of age working Diabetic Scent. This is puppy #6 "Shadow" who went to R.
This is video of our litter of Australian Shepherds at 2
1/2 weeks of age working Diabetic Scent. This is puppy #1 "Fish" & 8 "Daisy"
This is video of our litter of West Highland
White Terriers at 3 1/2 weeks of age working Diabetic Scent. This is puppy #1 "Layla"
What is a Bringsel?
A Bringsel is a type of tug stick that is usually made of a nylon type material and stuffed so it is soft.
The dog uses it to alert. When a DAD smells that their diabetic person is out of range, the dog will retrieve the Bringsel to
let the person know that they needs to test. Below are a couple of pictures.
Cali, one of our Aussie Dams
Holding a Bringsel
How Much Does a Diabetic Alert Dog Cost?
This varies greatly depending on who
you talk to. There are those out there who seem to be caught up in their own greed of making BIG BUCKS selling
imprinted 8 week old puppies. Those puppies can cost upwards of $10,000-$20,000. But an imprinted puppy with health
clearances and health guarantee shouldn't cost more than $1,000-$3,000.
So purchasing a dog to train as a Diabetic Alert
Dog doesn't have to cost a fortune, is within reach, and there are many resources out there for people looking to train their
own DAD. I belong to a few groups and can point you in the right direction.
Please don't be fooled by those out to make a fortune
off of your misfortune.
Highland Springs Pet Services LLC * (719) 532-0340 Rebekah's Cell
* Rock Springs * WY (Missed calls will be returned ASAP- Please leave a message as I may be with another client)
