Diary of a Service Dog – Part 6

Diabetic Alert Dogs

Another way we are helping our friends

My mom says that almost 10% of the US population lives with Diabetes on a daily basis (CDC.gov).  Although the rate is slowing in the older population, the rate of children and adolescents with diabetes is not.  This means that as the years go by, more of our population is being affected by this disease.

Did you know Service Dogs can be trained to aid someone with diabetes?

They are called Diabetic Alert Dogs.

Here you can see my friend Lilly as she alerts her handler that his glucose is rising too high.

Lilly is using “sit pretty” to indicate to her handler that his blood glucose is rising too high. First Lilly gets his attention with a nudge, then she can indicate if his blood glucose is leaving a safe range by going too high or too low. Handler’s always have to check their blood glucose level when their dog alerts.

Isn’t that cool?

Here Lilly is alerting right in the middle of class!

What’s also cool, is that AZ Dog Sports trains service dogs!

All of the pictures I have been sharing with you are from dogs being trained to be service dogs at AZ Dog Sports.