Christmas Vacation

As I sit cross legged on the bed typing these words, he lies at my knees snoring gently. Moments ago he alerted to my dad one floor above me before leading my dad downstairs to me, where he alerted to me. Austin was playing video games behind a closed door in a room on the opposite side of the vacation home where we are staying. A check of Austin’s blood sugar confirmed his high alert. Once I treated him for his alert, he followed me back to my room downstairs where he now lies sleeping. I love my working pup.

The Inconvenience Factor

The activity of Austin's three hour football practice caught up with his blood sugar this evening and Bo was on the job to let us know. I got his first alert as I was putting away laundry in Austin's room. I felt Bo's paw swipe but Austin saw it and told me he had to check before I said anything. The meter read 86. I rewarded Bo while Austin ate a snack. Seventeen minutes later Bo re-alerted me. Austin re-checked; he was still 86.

If you're fortunate enough to have a DAD that consistently and reliably alerts, you can expect being alerted and re-alerted. Sometimes it's not convenient to stop what you're doing to validate a re-alert and reward it with food and or a game. (i.e., It's the middle of the night and you want to go back to sleep. You're leaving for work and you're already late.)  But, it's always important to validate the alert in a timely manner and reward or watch it based on the number.  It's been my experience that following a consistent process for responding to alerts is key to maintaining Bo's work ethic and ultimately our team's success. 

As Austin prepares to take Bo to school full-time this month, I've talked with him a lot about the importance of responding to Bo's alerts immediately. As a 14-year-old boy, he doesn't always want to stop his activity to check in response to an alert. (Also, he sometimes thinks he knows better than Bo despite Bo proving him wrong on several occasions.) When I'm with him, I will check for him as he continues what he's doing. At school the responsibility will fall on him. I know he can do it.  I expect he and Bo will become a stronger team as they work more on their own and less with me.

Video: Discovering a New Food Puzzle

Today, I headed to Home Goods seeking inspiration for Austin's new bedroom design. I didn't find what I was looking for but I did find two new Busy Buddy treat dispensing toys for Bo -- the Rip 'N Tug Barbell and Octopus. It's a running joke in our family that when I go shopping, I always come home with something for Bo. The fact is, I'm always looking for new toys to keep Bo engaged and new food puzzles to keep him interested in working for his food. (Bo works for all his food.) 

When I got home, I didn't waste any time letting Bo give his new toys a try.  Bo immediately showed interest in the toys when I removed them from the bag. It might have been their bright green and purple color, smell, or fabric texture that captured his interest. Regardless, when I presented the barbell to him, he took it in his mouth and proudly carried it through the house for all of us to see. 

I captured this video of him figuring out how to release the kibble that I hid inside the food pockets located in each of the barbells. You see him work to open the fabric fasteners and release the kibble. He also picks up and drops the toy to try and release the kibble. Seconds after I stopped the video, Bo alerted to me. I was still sitting on the floor with my camera. Austin checked and he was 78. After a short session of live scent training, where Bo was reinforced for offering his low alert chain, we played 'getcha' his favorite game.

We've Got a Thinking Dog

This afternoon Bo did something he's never done. He paw swiped Austin's pack as a secondary alert. This alert came as I was preparing to check Austin's blood sugar. Bo had alerted high and I was waiting on Austin to check. Apparently I wasn't moving fast enough because as I sat waiting, Bo gave the pack two paw swipes and then looked at me. 

I wasn't able to capture the alert when it happened but I was able to prompt the behavior after the fact and get these pictures. This behavior surprised me because I've never trained him to alert in this manner. I believe it's a great example of what a 'thinking dog' looks like. 

Note: Bo has participated in Austin's blood sugar checks since he was a young puppy. We've always included him in the checking process. When we give him the 'let's check' command he follows us to get Austin's pack. He waits next to us as we prepare Austin's glucometer and stays with us until we validate his alert or if he didn't alert until we tell him 'all set.'

The Gem in the Journey

One of the most joyful discoveries on this journey has been the realization that I can help other D-moms who are on a parallel path to raise a DAD for their children. For much of our journey, I have been a recipient of other D-parents' gifts of guidance and encouragement. Recently, I have had the opportunity to share what's worked and what hasn't worked, and what we've learned from others, as well as what we've discovered on our own. Being in a position to share what I've learned on this journey for the simple sake of helping another D-mom has truly been the gem in the journey. 

Bo's Two Year Homecoming Anniversary

October 13, 2012

Today marks the two year anniversary of welcoming Bo into our hearts and home. In 24 months, we've made so much progress and come so far in our journey. We have raised a sweet pup who loves to learn and do the job we've trained him to do. Time and time again, he has demonstrated not only his ability to do his job, but also his willingness to choose working over other highly rewarding activities. He alerts around the distraction of other dogs, food-filled Kongs and chew bones and in strange/new places. He alerts at night and has alerted on car rides. He has alerted remotely -- when he is inside the house and Austin is outside.

October 13, 2014

While he primarily alerts to me, he does alert to Austin and other family members in my absence. His alerts are consistent and accurate, with the exceptions of alerts to fast drops or spikes. In those scenarios, he is alerting 15-20 minutes ahead of when the meter reads within his alert reward range. We continue to work to hone his alerts during fast drops or spikes. Being sure to highly reinforce alerts within his threshold ranges with high value reinforcements. (i.e., cheese and chicken, reward games and toys)

Bo alerts with a paw swipe

He has mastered the basic obedience commands (sit, down, stay, stand, come, back, wait) and has good stimulus control with many of them. He has also mastered more complex commands. For example, when Austin gives him the command to 'get help,' he will search out a person to bring to Austin. When given the command to 'find Austin' he will search out Austin. When asked 'what is he?' he will either bow or paw swipe to indicate a low or high.

We continue to teach him new, more complex behaviors to keep him stimulated and engaged in learning. He is currently learning how to retrieve a juice box on command and is learning to lie on his side on command.

He is vaccinated against resource guarding and aversions to basic grooming tasks including teeth brushing, nail clipping, ear cleaning and body bathing and combing.

At this point in our journey, a major focus is training a reliable leave while in public. While he has a reliable response to the leave command in our home, he doesn't in public. He has an especially difficult time leaving the scent of dog urine. We also continue to work on his focus when working in public. As his primary handlers, I am committed to building my confidence level when it comes to working him in public. I'm also trying to talk to him less while I'm handling in public. My goal is for him to learn to respond to my movements rather than relying on my verbal commands for direction.

It's been a tremendous amount of work to get to where we are today. I owe so much of our success with Bo to the many people (some I've never met in person) who have guided me, advised me, taught me, supported me and most importantly believed in me. None of this would have been possible without each of you. 

We've Got an AKC Canine Good Citizen

We did it! We passed the CGC test.

Bo passed the American Kennel Association's Canine Good Citizen test this afternoon. We have been training Bo in preparation for this test since we started our first level II class late last year. I was anxious as we drove to the test. My anxiety had more to do with my worry that I would mess up handling him and less to do with my confidence in his ability to pass the ten test items.

We were the first ones to arrive at the testing site -- a city park sprinkled with adults and children enjoying the beautiful day. Once another dog and handler team arrived, we got started with the first test -- accepting a friendly stranger. Bo sat comfortably as our instructor's assistant walked up to me and said hello and then walked away, only to walk back and ask to pet Bo. The test moved swiftly from that point on and I praised Bo generously each time he completed an item. The last test was a supervised separation. I had to leave Bo with a friendly stranger, walk away and stay out of Bo's sight for three minutes. This was the hardest part of the test for me. I couldn't see what he was doing and the three minutes felt like ten. When I got the okay to return to Bo, the instructor told me he had passed.

I felt a great sense of pride with the news that he had successfully passed. This feeling of success and accomplishment wasn't because the CGC is a really hard or prestigious test that only select teams can take and pass. To the contrary, the test is available to any dog and handler team and the test items represent pretty basic obedience skills. What really fueled my pride was knowing the time, energy and work we both had put in to get us to this point. 

For us, the CGC is the first of three tests we are pursuing as part of Bo's public access training. The other two are the AKC Community Canine, the advanced level of the CGC Program, and the Assistance Dog International Public Access Certification Test. We will continue our daily training, group training and one-on-one instructor guided training, as part of our goal to take and pass these advanced level tests. 

High Alert After Arriving Home from Being Gone

Austin wasn't home when I got home from work this evening. While he was gone, I did scent training with Bo inside and outside. I also ran him and used the lunge whip with him. When Austin got home, I brought Bo inside. After Bo greeted Austin and his grandmother, I observed Bo sniffing Austin. Bo's nose was tilting up toward Austin's head but touching his leg. Right after he sniffed Austin, Bo came over to me and alerted with a paw swipe. Austin then told me he had just eaten dinner out with his grandmother and that he was probably high. I checked Austin and he was 241. I rewarded Bo for his alert. Thirty five minutes later, Bo alerted high again. Austin was downstairs and Bo was upstairs with me this time. I checked Austin and his blood sugar was 181.

Service Dog Etiquette Flyer

I Love Bo

My mom training Bo.

Guest post from Austin: 
I am so amazed by my mom's hard work and dedication to this dog. She knows that she won't be able to keep him but to put this much time, effort, and money into a dog and son means a lot to me. I love my mom and thank her for the work she has done. My whole family loves this dog and he is doing great work for an even better purpose. So thank you to my mom, dad and Bo for being amazing people/animal.

Training is Part of Our Daily Routine

Level III Class

Training is part of our daily routine. Much of the training we do with Bo is scheduled. Our scheduled training consists of group classes, one-on-one trainer directed instruction, and at home or in public skill building sessions. What I call just-in-time training represents the other component of Bo's training.

In-the-moment training occurs as the opportunity to practice an existing skill or learn a new one presents itself. It might be working on recall while on an off-leash walk and encountering a flock of birds (see embedded video) or practicing 'leave' while navigating a popcorn littered sports stadium. Sometimes just-in-time training occurs at the most inopportune times -- like late at night or early in the morning. A missed alert in the middle of the night is an opportunity for live scent training -- a process that includes not only scent exposure and food rewards but also physical and verbal praise and sometimes reward play.

Place Training

In-the-moment training is sometimes as simple as redirecting Bo to return 'under' the table at dinner or redirecting him to his place when a friend is visiting. Neither of these tasks are difficult but they do require our time and attention. It would be easy to forego scent training in the middle of the night or obedience training during a meal or visit with a friend but training a DAD isn't easy, nor does it allow for laziness. So, we stay committed to giving 100% to Bo's training and in doing so we strive for patience in the process, potential in the progress and praise in the product.

Remote Alert

This weekend while Austin was outside playing basketball with a friend in our driveway, Bo alerted to me inside the house. The windows and doors were all closed when Bo gave this remote alert. He was on his cot in the dining room and I was in the kitchen. I heard him whining and when I went to check on him he had broken his place. He was tethered so he couldn't come to me but his whining got my attention. When I approached him he immediately began alerting with paw swipes followed by bows -- his alert chain for a low.

Bo had alerted about an hour earlier on a low. Austin was 83 at the time and I gave him a 25 g carb ice cream snack and didn't cover it with insulin. So, when Bo alerted low for a second time, I thought he may be confusing his alert chains. (He isn't 100% accurate in his use of the high and low alert chains yet.) 

I removed the tether and took Bo outside to check Austin. Austin insisted he felt fine and he didn't need to check. For a fleeting moment I second guessed Bo but then I told Austin we had to check because Bo had alerted. It's a good thing we did because Austin was 68. 

Bo got a big low party for this alert and after the party he went back to his cot and went to sleep.