What It's Like Working Bo at School

Bo and Austin during free time.

Guest post from Austin: 
Bo as many of you know has been attending school with me for a bit over a month now and let me say it has been one of the best months in my life. Bo is up there with some of the best things to come into my life. He works everyday all day, he get few breaks and still alerts and performs exceptionally. As I grow older and older the feeling I get when high or low fade and I find it increasingly harder to tell the difference between normal and low. However the scent signature will not change and that’s where Bo comes in he has caught thousands of high and low blood sugars through his life and it does not stop in school. Even with the constant flow of questions like “how old is he” or “what does he do”, “You’re not blind” and the most annoying “can I pet him” Bo stays calm and works through it. Bo works 6 hours through a school day and most of that is very boring to him, sitting or lying at my feet scenting for the slightest smell of a low or high. Bo is the best he is everything I could imagine and more. It makes me and my mother so proud to see him succeed in school.

Bo under desk at school

Bo napping after being picked-up from school.

Subject: Physical Science, Austin and Bo

When I drop Austin and Bo off at school in the morning, I always stay to watch them make their way from the sidewalk to the school entrance. As they disappear behind the glass doors, I wish I could see what they look like navigating the corridors and classrooms. This weekend I received an email from Austin’s science teacher that was the next best thing to being able to see boy and pup working on their own. Her words filled my eyes with tears of happiness and my heart with pride for the team my boy and his dog have become.

Subject: Physical Science, Austin and Bo

Hi Jennifer

Just a quick note to let you know how well things are going in Physical Science class with Bo.

We are in a very noisy part of the curriculum, with the students (a full class of 24) setting up cars and ramps, then running these noisy cars down the ramps throughout the class to collect data. Throughout it all, (3 class periods so far) Bo has been composed and settled. Austin does an amazing job of keeping an eye on him and keeping up with all the work expected at the same time.

I have been very impressed with both of them and thought you should know what a great job they are doing in class together.

Have a great weekend.

Bo's Four Year Homecoming Anniversary

October 13, 2013

Four years ago yesterday, we brought Bo home and began the journey that led us to where we are today. We welcomed our sweet pup into our hearts with hopes and dreams that were big but grounded in reality. We knew there were no guarantees the puppy we chose would have the drive or temperament to be a diabetic alert dog (DAD); what we did know is we were committed to doing everything we could to give him the best possible chance for success.

Fast forward to today and boy and pup are navigating high school side-by-side everyday. They are working together with ease. Bo is alerting Austin at school and Austin is responding to his alerts by checking his blood sugar and rewarding Bo. It wasn’t until boy and pup began working independently together at the start of this school year that I finally felt like I could say ‘I did it’ — I reached my ultimate goal of training a DAD for Austin.

The path we took to get a DAD isn’t a path that’s suited for every T1D family and certainly not a path for the faint of heart. I believe it worked for us because we committed our time, energy and resources to giving Bo the best possible chance for success. Additionally, we were fortunate to have an extraordinary trainer in Helen Nicholls St. Pierre plus an expansive support network of family, friends and other DAD teams from across the country.

We were lucky; Bo turned out to have the drive to do the work we raised and trained him to do. Not all dogs, despite their breeding and training, are cut-out to be service dogs —  a fact I think about every time I consider training another DAD for Austin to take to college. Similarly, not all families are suited to train a service dog. I’m thankful for our experience and grateful for the incredible journey we began four years ago when we brought Bo home.

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.

Training, Exercise and Play Before Sunday Mass

Before Austin and I left for church with Bo Sunday morning, I took Bo to our local community schoolyard for training, exercise and play. On the short walk from our house to the school, we practiced loose leash walking, as well as stopping and or sitting based on my body cues. I also worked Bo on pivoting.

Once we got to the empty school parking lot, I let go of the leash and worked on heel work using only voice control. Once we reached the schoolyard, I unhitched his leash, gave him his free command and threw his frisbee. The schoolyard's large open field is a safe space for him to get exercise and work off leash.

I love the early morning time I spend with Bo outside. I get to reinforce trained behaviors, as well as have fun with him. In a couple of weeks Austin will begin taking Bo to school. Before they leave each morning,  I'll train, exercise and play with Bo like I did this morning. It's not only fun for him but it's a way for him to get his 'beans out' as Helen says.

When we got to church, Bo settled at our feet in the pew. In the past, when Austin has taken Bo to mass, Austin’s repeated standing and sitting throughout the mass confused Bo. He is trained to follow our body movement, so each time Austin stood, Bo responded by standing. On Sunday, we cued him to stay before we were about to stand. He quickly figured out he could stay settled even though we were moving up and down.

Bo did break his place mid mass. Austin's first reaction was to tell him to go down. I reminded Austin that Bo may be alerting and to wait and watch. After a few seconds and a yawn, Bo paw swiped my leg. Austin checked and confirmed his high alert. 

When we went up to receive communion, Bo ended up backing his way out of the pew rather than turning around and walking straight out of it like in this picture. Turning in small confined spaces is now on our list to train and practice. Backing out wasn’t a big deal but it exposed a hole in our training. So, we will work to fill it.

During mass my thoughts drifted from the liturgy to the boy and pup sitting next to me. As I watched them in the space, I couldn’t help but think about how far they've come. There was once a time in church when Bo barked at our priest when Austin was getting communion. No barking this Sunday — just a calm, settled and focused pup doing the job we’ve worked so hard to train him how to do. 

Today I Turned Four

Today I turned four.

I went for a walk and sniffed.

I ate birthday cookies.

I celebrated with my family and Gil & Syl.

I opened a present from Gil & Syl.

I played with my boy outside.

I worked for my boy. Here I am telling him he is low.

I napped.

I played with my favorite toy.

Our four-year-old pup. August 23, 2016.

When Your Service Dog Pukes in Public

I’ve run through a lot of scenarios of what could go wrong while working Bo in public but puking is not one of them. So when I got Austin’s text today that read, “He puked,” all I could think to ask was if he handled it okay.  I didn't get a reply from Austin but I talked to him after class.  He told me there was a lot of puke and the teacher called the janitor to clean the mess. (How fortunate for him. He gags at picking up Bo's poop.) According to Austin, his classmates didn't hear or see Bo get sick. Austin said Bo didn't break place or make noise. And, despite an upset stomach Bo did his job and alerted Austin to a high of 170 during class.