# Diabetic Alert Dog Qs



## My_Hunny (Jul 25, 2012)

I recently became diabetic and although it sucks, the upside is that now I have a legitimate reason for a service animal. 
Has anybody gone through the training process for a diabetic alert dog? 
How did you train the dog to differentiate when it's at a low or dangerous level?
Should I do it with blood samples on test strips? 
What is the process to prove that your dog truly does alert you, so it can be a legitimate service animal? 
I've seen companies and nonprofits that will do the training for you, but I'd really rather do that on my own. I enjoy working with my dog and feel there are a lot of added benefits to doing it myself, but in this case, is it something that I'm better off keeping in consideration?

I know that's a lot of questions and trust me, I have a lot more.  I'm pretty well educated on the law side of things, but know little as far as going through the process. If any of you have any experience with this, I'd love to hear your story about how you trained your chi or other breed. 



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## susan davis (Mar 25, 2011)

Most of the time diabetic alert dogs work with people that have to use insulin, or type 1 diabetes. Rarely, does someone on pills get that low a blood sugar. Are you type 1 or type 2 (adult onset usually)? Just wondering.


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## Zoey_The_Wolf (Mar 4, 2011)

Has anybody gone through the training process for a diabetic alert dog? i am in the process (it takes years to fully be trained)
How did you train the dog to differentiate when it's at a low or dangerous level? well you 'set the dog' at a number that's right for you, you start with training lows then you train highs. pick a low number, that you hit but have enuf time to eat and get it back up. when you hit this number. don't make your self hit it, just if you test and you are then take a cotton ball and swap your mouth ( if you have not eaten for the past 30mins) and keep this in an air tit container in the fezer. this will be what you use to train the dog you alert to.
Should I do it with blood samples on test strips? no
What is the process to prove that your dog truly does alert you, so it can be a legitimate service animal? there really is not one. as an owner-trainer (you trained the dog your self) the only thing you can have is a log of all the training you have done with him. and you should not say he is 'full trained' until he alerts in public (more then just once, or a luckly guess, you want him to know what hes doing not just be guessing cause you can do that) untill that just say hes in training. 
I've seen companies and nonprofits that will do the training for you, but I'd really rather do that on my own. I enjoy working with my dog and feel there are a lot of added benefits to doing it myself, but in this case, is it something that I'm better off keeping in consideration? no don't mess with thous companies, unless they give you the info for free or under $100 any higher companies is just more of a scam. as for having someone do the training for you, don't do it, diabetic alert dogs need to be bonded to there service dog team mat. how you do that is by you spending the time to train him, if you need help ok ask someone to help you but dont send your dog off to 'be' train. alot of times they don't even come back trained.

if you have any more question, i love to answer them 
(sorry for the miss spelling i have a learning disably, and spell check does not always cough it.)


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