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

Saturday, December 26, 2015

Bowling with Bo

Bo's first time at the bowling stadium.
We took Bo bowling today. It was his first time in the space. The distractions were high -- people chatting and cheering, music playing, balls rolling and pins crashing. Bo worked like a pro.  He did everything we've trained him to do while working in public; he even alerted to a high of 180.

The floor around and under our table was pristine. There wasn't a crumb or piece of trash to be found. Bo placed under our table without the distraction of food and stayed there until he broke place to alert. When he first broke place we thought he was being antsy and we gave him the command under but when he didn't listen to our command, I realized he was about to alert. Sure enough, he paw swiped my leg when I allowed him to stand. (This was a good reminder to first think alert when he breaks his place in public rather than thinking he is not settling.) He ended up re-alerting 20 minutes after his first alert and Austin's blood sugar was 182. By the time we finished bowling and got in the car Austin's blood sugar was 130 -- well on its way to his target of 120.

If we didn't have Bo with us during this outing, we wouldn't have caught the 180 until an hour after Bo caught it -- which would have been our next scheduled check. As result of having Bo with us, we were able to correct Austin's high and have his blood sugar back at target by the time we finished bowling. After bowling, we went out to eat. Austin's blood sugar was at target by the time he checked it at the restaurant.
Bo resting his chin 'chill' on Austin's foot. 

Bo waiting for Austin to check after giving a high alert.