The story of a boy living with Type 1 and his family's journey to raise and train a diabetic alert dog.

Monday, May 13, 2013

It's Hard Not to Compare

As I have written previously, there is a wonderful community of parents who are raising and training D.A.D.s for their children with Type 1. These are people who unselfishly share their experiences and knowledge with thousands of strangers. They share a common goal — to raise awareness of Type 1 Diabetes AND the incredible work of diabetic alert dogs. 

Their stories inspire and encourage me but I'd be remiss not to tell you that sometimes I find myself comparing Bo's progress to the amazing accomplishments of these dogs I read about. (I suppose it's much like a parent comparing his child's development to that of  the child's peers.) While Bo is making steady progress in his alerting and public access training, he is not yet trained to alert on highs, he is not alerting at night, and he isn't perfect in public. In my moments of comparison, I remind myself that Bo is still a young dog of 8 months; that I am following through on my commitment to raise him using only positive reinforcement methods and that I am working with him daily on scent training and public access work.  When you give something all you've got, great things will happen. Right?!

Yesterday, Bo alerted to a 77 of Austin's. Today, he alerted to an 89. The alert today was directly to Austin; I wasn't even in the same room. These alerts are gifts, precious gifts, that remind me that this journey I set out on ... to raise a diabetic alert dog for my child ... just may be leading me to the incredible outcome I have hoped and prayed for.

1 comment:

  1. I agree, I constantly have to remind myself that I am exactly where I need to be with the training of our DAD's, and that the other amazing teams once were where we are now.

    To be successful, there is no skipping ahead. Do the work, plan the course, have a vision for what the end looks like, and work your butt off.

    And great job!

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