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

Saturday, December 14, 2013

Bo and Ellen

When Bo cannot be with us during the week because we are working and Austin is at school, he spends his days with our wonderful neighbors and friends — Gil and Syl.  They have been taking him since he was 10-weeks-old and they have truly welcomed him into their home as their own pup. 

Ellen and Bo
At their house, Bo has the opportunity to play, exercise, socialize, practice commands, sleep and even work. That's right, he has the opportunity to do the work we have been training him to do — alert on low and high blood sugar. This is because one of Syl's friends, who visits her daily, lives with Type 1 Diabetes. Her name is Ellen. Bo was not trained to alert on her, it's something he began doing on his own. I love the fact that Bo can do his job even when he can't be working for Austin. We will not reward Bo for third party alerts when he is with Austin because we want Austin to be his main focus. However, when he is away from Austin and at Syl's house, he is rewarded for alerting on Ellen's lows and highs. 

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