Working for Baby Food

One of Bo's favorite food rewards is chicken and gravy baby food. When he alerts, he gets a few licks from the jar. It's a convenient reward food that is quick to give and doesn't make a mess or require hand washing afterwards.

A Nap Alert

Austin, Bo and I were taking a nap in my bed when I felt Bo change his position. I opened my eyes in time to see him raise his head and air scent toward Austin who was sleeping on the other side of him. After air scenting, he sat up and pawed my body. 'Do we need to check?' I asked. He jumped off the bed and I followed him to the kitchen to get Austin's pack. I checked Austin who was still sleeping and he was 73. Before I got to the 15 min re-check Bo re-alerted. This time Austin was 70. Austin didn't feel the low and his next scheduled check would have been 1 hour from now. The pup is good at his job!

Night Alerts

We are fortunate in that Bo alerts in the middle of the night. We've found our success in allowing Bo to get a couple of hours of sleep in our bed early in the evening, when Austin is still awake, and then placing boy and pup together when Austin goes to bed. At 3:13 am this morning, Bo hopped out of Austin's bed and came to mine to alert. Austin was 84 -- an ideal number to be alerted at for a low. Bo is not perfect by any means but he is one heck of a night alerter and for this I'm incredibly grateful!

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.

Missed Alerts as Training Opportunities

I often read about amazing DAD alerts but I rarely read about missed alerts. In my experience missed alerts are part of the journey. I think it's important for people to hear about them and understand how we use them as training opportunities. 

This morning Bo missed an alert. He was lying on my bed as Austin slept nearby. He showed no signs of smelling a low. He sat at my side on the bed as I prepared Austin's meter for checking. The test strip sucked up the blood droplet and the meter read 87. This is a number within Bo's reward threshold. I looked at him for signs of smelling the low (i.e., air scenting, sniffing vigorously, staring intently at me) but he showed no signs. 

What did I do? I used it as a training opportunity. I cued him to 'go sniff' Austin and I told him 'he's low.' He then started alerting. I cued him 'off' the bed and prompted him to 'show me low.' He pawed me and bowed at my feet. I called him with me to get Austin a juice box and I cued him to 'take juice' and bring it to Austin in bed. 

Why he missed this alert could have been due to any number of reasons. (i.e., Austin's blood sugar may have been trending up. The technology we use to measure Austin's blood sugar is allowed at +/- 20 point margin of error. His full belly from breakfast may have left him content and unmotivated to work.) I don't know for sure the reason; what I do know for sure is we always check on a schedule regardless of his alerts. There have been times when he has caught a high or low that we would have missed and, like today, there are times when we catch a low or high that he misses. This is one of the many reasons we are called a team. 

Video: Practicing Load Up in Wash Room

Every day I spend time training, exercising and playing with Bo. On the days I don't work, I spend more time doing each of these activities than on days I do work. I'm always trying to find new ways to engage him and keep him busy and interested. Today, we practiced the load up command by having him load up into the bathtub. Usually I'm giving the 'load up' command to prompt him to get into a vehicle or to get on Austin's bed. 

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.'