Leaving a Kong to Alert

Bo was eating his dinner Kong a little while ago when he dropped the Kong to alert to me. I didn't respond to him immediately to see if he would re-alert or go back to his Kong. He left the Kong on the floor to re-alert to me. Once I got Austin's meter he followed me to Austin and continued alerting to me with paw swipes a I was checking him. Austin was high.

A Christmas Eve Alert

Type 1 Diabetes is unsympathetic to the fact that Christmas Eve is one of the most, if not the most, difficult nights of the year for children to fall and stay asleep. I tucked Austin into bed last night hoping I would be able to check him at midnight and 2 pm without waking him from his sleep.  I knew if he needed treatment it was going to be really difficult for him to fall back asleep, given his excitement for Christmas. 

At 12:15 Bo alerted to me. I checked Austin and he was 92. His target blood sugar for sleep is 160, so I gave him juice. The check coupled with the need to drink juice woke him fully. At 1 am Austin (who was still awake) called out to me. Bo had alerted to him.  (One paw touch on Austin's back and then when Austin didn't respond, a second paw touch on his back.) When I got to his room, Bo was at the gate waiting for me. As soon as I removed the gate, he alerted to me with a paw swipe to my leg. I checked Austin and he was 196. I was about to recheck when Austin realized his pod had fallen off his body. Bo got chicken for his alert and Austin got a site change. 

If Someone Would Have Told Me...

If someone would have told me two years ago that I would one day set-out to train and raise a service dog for my son, I would have laughed in disbelief. In fact, my likely reply would have been, "you're crazy!" You see, before Bo, I was not much into dogs. They were nice for other people and their families but not for me and mine.

Each time Austin asked for a dog, I would rationalize my decision not to get him one with examples of why our family would make horrible dog owners. We would be too 'soft' and surely the dog would not listen to us and end-up poorly mannered. He would chew shoes and furniture, beg at the table, jump on guests and make messes in the house. I was certain our family was not cut-out to raise the type of dog that I considered well mannered — dogs like the ones my sister and brother-in-law had always raised. My mantra to Austin was a litany of responsibilities and concessions one makes when they choose to bring a dog into their home.  He would have to walk the dog and pick-up after it. He'd have to feed and water it and adapt his schedule to be home to let it out and get exercise. And of course, like any 9-year-old child, Austin assured me he would happily do all these things. Despite his sweet appeals, I held firm on my position. Until one summer morning in 2012, when I had an epiphany that changed everything.

To be continued...

Scent Training

Bo's Nose Knows

Bo is alerting to Austin's lows and highs with consistency and accuracy. He is alerting not only during the day but also at night. He is alerting at home and in public. He is alerting to family members and directly to Austin. Despite his demonstrated success in these areas, we continue to do scent training with him every day. 

Scent Stick

Training sessions typically last 20 minutes and involve games of hide and seek with a scent stick, as well as a variety of scent training activities. One such activity involves presenting him with a low scent sample and asking him to show the alert chain for a low, which is a paw swipe followed by a bow. Another activity consists of presenting him with a muffin tin of tennis balls and asking him to touch the ball with the low scent hidden under it. When we play hide and seek with a scent stick, he is given the command to stay while we hide the stick in a room out of his view. We then release him from his stay and give him the 'find it' command. Once he finds the stick, we give him the command to 'bring it,' which prompts him to bring the stick to us and drop it. For each successful find and retrieve, he is rewarded with a high value food like chicken, cheese or hot dog. Bo loves playing this game and it serves to build and reinforce his drive to alert. We do this scent training when Austin is not at home, so as not to confuse Bo with the scent of Austin's live blood sugar. 

When Austin is home we do real time scent training with Bo. This training lasts seconds but often occurs multiple times a day. It involves Austin blowing on Bo when his blood sugar is 175 or higher or when his blood sugar is under 100. Austin blows on Bo and asks Bo to show him the alert chain for low or high depending on his blood sugar.  The command we use to cue the chain is 'show me low' and 'show me high.' Bo is rewarded for showing the appropriate alert signal. 

Our scent training sessions are part of our daily routine and always will be. They are fun and enjoyable for Bo (as well as us) and they serve to keep his nose keen to the scents we want him to recognize. Additionally, the sessions help further his desire to alert by reinforcing him with his favorite foods and lots of attention and love. 

Training Under

This picture of Bo under our dining room bench represents progress in training the command 'under.' Bo responded to the command quickly when we were training him to go under our dining room table but he didn't respond as quickly when we asked him to go under low clearance objects like a bench or chair. He would go under with the lure of a treat just far enough to get the treat, and then he would immediately back out. With consistent training he is now going all the way under the bench and remaining in a down stay. Tonight when I was working him, he stayed under the bench while I left the room. 

Another Low Alert to Austin at Night

Austin called out to me again last night to come and check him. It was midnight. Bo woke him up from sleep to alert. I checked and he was 89. He had played basketball in the evening and this low was the result of the delayed effect exercise has on his blood sugar.

This morning at 6:45 am I was in Austin's room picking-up the juice boxes, cotton, alcohol wipes and other items on his night stand when Bo alerted to me with a paw swipe and a bow. I checked Austin and he was 81. Bo got carved chicken and Austin got out of bed sooner than he wanted in order to eat breakfast.

A Night Alert to Austin

At midnight Bo woke Austin from sleep with paw swipes. Austin called out to me and when I got to his bedroom door Bo was sitting on the bed at Austin's head. Once I got to the edge of his bed, Bo started paw swiping me. I checked Austin and he was 226. Bo may have tried to whine at Austin's door but the bedroom door was shut ... something Austin did after we tucked him in for the the night... and if he did -- we didn't hear it. The fact that Bo woke up from sleep and alerted and that he woke Austin from sleep is truly encouraging.