Diabetic Alert Dog

written by Ida McCabe, Alert Dogs for Diabetics

At the start of any search for a diabetic alert dog, most folks do not even know what they are looking for. They have usually just recently heard that there is even such a thing as a diabetic alert dog, and are excited to get more information as to just what all is involved with this new help for those sudden lows that could actually take their life or that of a loved one, or at least alter it.

So that we will be sure that all who read this will understand just what a diabetic alert dog is, I will explain what they do. A diabetic alert dog (DAD), is a fully obedience trained dog that is also trained to detect and alert his/her person when their blood sugar levels drop below the recommended safe level. That is usually 80.

Because of a dog’s incredible sense of smell, they are capable of detecting any changes in our body chemistry. A DAD is specifically trained to the scent of blood sugar, and in fact they will usually detect a high blood sugar level as well as a low.

I believe that all dogs have the ability to detect these changes, the difference between a trained DAD and an ordinary dog is that they have been trained to let their person know that this is happening. Since dogs pick up on these changes so rapidly, some people believe that a dog is actually more accurate than their meters. A friend of mine who has an alert dog says that she is about 20 minutes ahead of her meter.

There are a few facilities today that are training dogs for this purpose and there seems to be others that are just beginning that venture.

My suggestion would be to explore all the options available to you. Make sure that you make an informed decision about something that will affect a good portion of your life.

In your search, you might want to make a list of questions to ask when contacting a particular training facility. These questions would be on my list.

1. Are your dogs raised in your home or in a kennel? This is important because a DAD is going to be living in your home and you want to be sure that it has learned what I call “house manners”. Does the dog know how to ask to go out to potty? Or will he/she just hold it until you routinely take it out? Is it crate trained? Sometimes these dogs must be left at home alone, and it might be better for all concerned, to know that the dog is safe while you are not there to watch after it. It is also a good thing to have a place where he/she can go to be alone and just “chill”.

2. How many dogs do you train and place at a time, and how often do you make placements? In my opinion, if a trainer is mass producing DAD’s, (holding classes and or placing dogs) at a rapid pace, the training is likely to be incomplete, and you just may take on more problems than you need.

3. How many trainers do you have? This question should be used in conjunction with the previous one. The ratio of trainers to dogs should be very low. In my opinion, each dog should be trained in an in home setting. By this I mean that they should be brought into a home as part of a family. In order to be able to achieve this for optimal results, only one or two dogs should be brought into the home at a time for training, preferably one. This is a very important element in the socialization of a dog. While in the home, a dog can and should receive not only basic obedience training (sit, down, stay, etc.), but house manners training as well, and how to get along with the family which might include other pets. (I have a cat that runs our household, and is essential for my dogs to understand “don’t hurt the cat”.

To qualify the previous statement I must say that if a trainer has a litter of puppies that they have raised in a kennel setting while working daily with them, the socialization element of training may be achieved on an ongoing basis prior to bringing a particular animal into the home to finish the process.

4. What kind of training methods do you use? There are a variety of training methods, and each dog may require a different method in order to obtain the best results. Fear based methods should be used only as a last resort, if at all. Some breeds are a bit more reliable as alert dogs by virtue of their strong willed temperament and therefore may require a more patient or even stronger will than their own in order to achieve the desired results. I would recommend that you study the breeds before making a decision. After all, ultimately, you will be the trainer.

5. Where do you get your dogs? A dog does not necessarily have to be pure bred “anything” in order to make a good alert dog, but it’s background should be a good one. A dog acquired from a shelter is no less a good candidate for an alert dog than one that has been obtained from a breeder. Since dogs acquired from shelters or the pound are usually ones that have been neglected at least, or surrendered voluntarily, I would recommend that you ask the trainer how long they have had the dog in question. If they have only had the dog for a short period of time, I would wonder if they have addressed all of the issues surrounding the neglect or surrender of the animal. It has been said that dogs live in the present, and past behaviors can be corrected with the right training. I believe that is true, but it takes time to achieve this.

In my opinion, for optimal results, a dog that has been raised from a puppy by the trainer, or trainers assistant, or even by you, is the best option of all. Some times that is not possible, but it is still my preference of all the options.

6. Will the dog be fully obedience trained? It is important that a dog be fully obedience trained for a number of reasons. First of all, you will most likely be taking this animal everywhere that you go, and in order to do this he or she must be public access certified and capable of controlling it’s behavior in any setting. It is also a necessary element in the consistent alerting of a DAD. You must be willing and capable of maintaining the obedience training of your alert dog. You might also want to ask about what kind of training you will receive from the trainer at the time of placement with your dog. If you feel that you might need more training I would suggest that you either attend obedience classes yourself or at least purchase a training video so that you will have a good idea about how to proceed once you have your DAD. In an effort not to confuse your DAD I would recommend that you try to closely match the training style of your DAD trainer.

7. Will you, the trainer, be available to me if I have issues with my dog after I have him/her at home with me? A good trainer should be available by telephone, at least, in order to help you deal with any issues that might arise during the first year that you have your dog. In that amount of time you should have a good idea about how to deal with your dog yourself.

8. What is your return policy if my dog does not work for me? A good trainer should offer to at least replace a dog that does not work out for a family. Most trainers care enough for their dogs that they would not want to leave a dog in an environment that is not a good match for them.

9. How do you select the dogs that you will train as alert dogs?  Some trainers will tell you that any dog can be trained for any purpose. Most good trainers will take their dogs through a screening process. During this process they will assess their dog’s temperament. This should tell them how suited the dog is for the intended purpose.

For our purposes you do not want a dog that is so laid back that nothing seems to inspire them to action. It makes for a good, unobtrusive, family pet, but they may or may not pay enough attention to alert at critical times.

On the other hand, you do not want a dog that is distracted by every movement, and the smallest thing can set them off. An unforgiving dog that holds a grudge might snap at any moment.

A dog that is alert to its surroundings, and curious enough to investigate with confidence, not easily deterred, with acceptable pain tolerance, not easily insulted, and very forgiving, might just be the start of a good DAD. These are just a few of the characteristics that a good trainer would look for before even starting with training.

A good trainer should also be willing to wash a dog out at any time if they feel that the dog is unsuited to the job. This might mean that there would be a delay in placement, but rather that than taking a dog home and finding disappointment after such high expectations

With these questions in mind, you should be at least partially armed for your search for your DAD. I wish only the best for any and all who embark upon this journey. The more time you take to make an informed decision the better the outcome should be. Included in your search should be past experiences from others who themselves have made this journey.

JD continues to practice ‘leave it’ skills with me. He now looks to me much more quickly when we ’set him up’. Dog’s don’t generalize well, though, so this skill will have to be practice LOTS – and in lots of different settings and under different circumstances before it will be a solid behavior that we can count on.

I was VERY proud yesterday, though.

JD practices place near my golden

JD was  practicing “place” yesterday morning. I homeschool; Lydia and I were at the kitchen table, studying. We asked JD to place on a mat about 2 feet from us.  My golden retriever, Sam, was also lying on a mat in the kitchen.  We were keeping a VERY close eye on JD, wanted to remind him to stay in PLACE if he started to squirm rather than waiting til he got up and having to correct him. I want to be the one that calls him off place ;  he needs to wait for my instructions rather than developing the ‘i can do whatever i want” kind of mentality. Sooo, we were watching him very closely.  During this session, JD was building focus and patience AND was learning to be steady and calm around other dogs.

I had the clicker and a few treats close by, of course. The buzzer signalling the end of a wash cycle blarred. He looked at me: click and treat. I want him to look to me whenever there is an unexpected occurance. I want to reassure him that the noise he heard should not alarm him – the treat makes positive associations for him and will drive him to look to me the next time there is a strange noise because he will be looking for another  treat.

I had the clicker and treats close by for a specific purpose yesterday – we wanted to reward him for any time he makes eye contact without being asked. So, as we were studying, whenever he looked at us, we would click and treat. it was a fun game for him. Initially, he was not sure why this was his lucky day. But, within a few clicks, I’m pretty sure he ‘got it’ because his gaze was fixed on us.

He had eaten, taken a brisk walk, practice ‘wait’ and ‘recall’ outside and then had come in to work on ‘place’. I had set him up for success since he had had all his needs met  – he had eaten, pottied and excercised.  Now, after staring at us for minutes, his head relaxed back down to the floor. Out of the corner of my eye, i saw a spider crawling across the floor. All the world is a toy to a puppy and everything is an excuse to lose focus. I decided to see how well he had put all these lessons together. The ‘watch ‘me’ and ‘leave it’ go hand-in-hand. As soon as he saw the spider, his ears went forward, i could see that he was tempted to play. I picked the clicker up off the table and it must have made a slight noise. JD cut his eyes immediately to me. YES. Click and treat. Oh, but now the spider was building up speed and getting closer. I gave him a command “leave it”. Again, he looked at me. click and treat. Now we are applying a skill that was only a training excercise up until this point.  The spider got his attention again, but this time, it only held his attention for nano-second. On his own, un-cued, he quickly focused back on me and was well rewarded.  We squashed the spider: it is always important to end training sessions on a positive note. He had achieved success and I was very proud of him.  Training was over and he relaxed and lay his head back down on his mat.

good job JD

Good dog!

The following post was written by Ida McCabe of Alert Dogs for Diabetics. Those of you participating in forum discussions will recognize Ida from conversations there. Ida has had a compassionate heart to offer assistance to  diabetic alert dogs teams in need of further assistance.  I completely agree with Ida concerning the need for better training in these dogs in all areas –   obedience, scent, socialization, house manners all need to be areas of solid training. 

Thank you, Ida, for your participation on the forum and here on the blog as well!

Think about it, have you ever noticed that your pet seems to know when you are not feeling well? Maybe your dog comes to sit beside you when you are trying to recover from a bout with a migraine. Or maybe he lays beside you on your bed while you are fighting the flu. It just seems that they know you are not feeling well and are just waiting to see if there is something they can do to help.

Your dog may have acted this way because they have recognized a scent that your body puts off when you are indeed ill. Because their sense of smell is so well developed, they literally can detect any change in our body chemistry.

Not so long ago, people began to experiment with the idea that dogs might just be able to detect the scent of a diabetic’s low gulcose levels just as they have been detecting the scent of drugs and tracking humans for many years. As it turns out, not only do dogs make wonderful companions, they also make excellent tools to use in the management of diabetes.

After I became interested in the concept of diabetic alert dogs, I was talking with a friend about it. She had recently been diagnosed with diabetes, and related the story of how her dog had started spending more time by her side. She had heard about diabetic alert dogs and wondered if this might be what Susie was doing. She took her clues from her pet and began checking her blood sugar levels when Susie was more attentive. Sure enough, most of the time she was low and it appeared that Susie was able to recognize this.

As you may have noticed, there are more people advertising as diabetic alert dog trainers. This is a good thing. That means that there are more trainers to choose from to produce an alert dog that is just right for you. It also means that there will be more people overlooking the process. That is a good thing also.

Another very important element to this is that the more people involved in the development of the perfect diabetic alert dog, the greater the possibility that this new enterprise will gain more respectability in the medical community, and hopefully the insurance industry as well.

Since a diabetic alert dog will be expected to live directly with the person that it will serve, actually going everywhere they go including to work, shopping, school, doctors offices, etc., the dog will necessarily need to be not only perfectly obedience trained and scent trained, it will also need to be perfectly house trained and socialized. This is the part that should take the most of the training time.

A dog that loves to play ball, and retrieve, and has perfect recall are great assets for a diabetic alert dog to possess, but without that time spent in a home atmosphere, (the type that he will be spending the rest of his life in) making sure that he is ready to begin his new adventure, comfortable with his surroundings and respecting all aspects of it, the dog is not ready to be placed with a new owner.

This is where the cottage industry aspect of the diabetic alert dog business comes in. This type of training can only be accomplished in an in home setting. That means that the dog will live in the home of the person that is training it. The dog will be house trained. Yes they will learn manners, ( use the bathroom in appropriate places, no begging, no eating off counters or tables, no jumping on people) you get the picture.

All of this takes time just as it would a child. The dog must learn what is expected of him and have time to practice it. He also needs to have all of his training reenforced in order that it has enough time to become habit with him. Therefore, the time a dog spends in the home setting is some of the most critical part of the training process. Not only does a dog learn to enjoy the love of a human companion, he also learns how to become a good companion.

To all the entrepreneurs out there who are embarking on this new journey as diabetic alert dog trainers, best of wishes, and let’s make these dogs the best of the best.

To all those looking for the best diabetic alert dog you can find, because you need the assistance to optimize your health. Pay close attention to who you choose to train that perfect dog. Make sure you explore all your options. The best choice may not be from those who mass produce diabetic alert dogs, although they should have more experience by virtue of the volume they train. Likewise, someone just starting in the business may not have the experience to produce the best dog, while at the same time their passion for the job may cause them to produce the better animal.

While financial considerations are very important, as most of us know, just because you pay the higher price it does not always mean that you get the best product, neither does paying the least mean that the quality is not as good. Just take your time and make sure that when you choose you have the option of returning for a replacement in the event that it becomes necessary.

Positive Dog training methods REWARD the dog for desired behavior, creating a dog working off TRUST rather than fear – a dog that WANTS to work, loves to work, and is MOTIVATED to perform a desired task for his handler.

Mr Darcy has an extremely high play drive and would do *anything* for a BALL. He is a retriever, so – he loves to retrieve. Mr Darcy has one special ball (it is very special to him, but is just a common red KONG ball to us) that he ONLY gets to retrieve when he alerts for a LOW. This is the behavior that is most valuable to us, so we pay him with the reward that is most desired for him. We do not use this ball at ANY OTHER TIME  and we only throw it for him  ONE time for each low!  he knows this routine very well. It is so amusing to observe: Here at home, he retrieves a bringsel to alert us that Abi’s BG is out of range. Along with the bringsel, he retrieves a person TO ABI with EVERY alert  – he is a lot like Lassie ; he will NOT leave us alone unless we follow him to Abi. He adds a “wave” if she is LOW. He sits and focuses on her while she is testing and AS SOON AS ABI says “good low, Mr Darcy”, he runs to the refrigerator and sits. ( His precious ball is on top of the refrigerator). He and Abi go out together to throw his ball ONE TIME and then he comes back in. He knows what he is required to do and he and he knows how he will be paid for the work he has done! 

In order to train any dog, you’ve got to know what your dog is willing to work for. Every dog is a bit different, even within breeds, so finding your dog’s favorite things is up to you.  You can then use this ‘motivator’ to train a behavior, change a behavior, replace unwanted behavior, etc.

There are five basic motivators and these can (and should) be combined in different proportions to create the perfect motivator for your dog. Your dog is an individual  – learn to know your dog and what motivates him!!

1. food or treat. Give the dog a small piece of food exactly at the moment they are performing the behavior you desire. The perfect example  here is teaching SIT with a young pup. Every young pup is motivated by food. As you lure the pup into the proper position, offer the treat as as soon as his bottom hits the ground. He quickly learns exactly what he needs to do to get that treat!

2. a verbal  or CLICK(clicker training is a marvelous way to train your dog!).  Use this verbal cue or CLICK exactly at the moment that the behavior that you are trying to train or modify occurs. This sound becomes a bridge between the behavior and the reward. A classic example here is the whistle used in dolphin training. The dolphin knows that when he hears the whistle, he has earned a reward , a few tasty fish. The dolphin is working away from his handler – perhaps swimming out to do a high jump and flip – so the food reward cannot , obviously, be offered while the dolphin is far from the handler or even in mid-air, so the trainer marks that behavior with a whistle. The sound itself becomes a motivator.

3. affection. Some dogs CRAVE a lavish pet or verbal praise. Believe it or not, there are some dogs who really aren’t very interested in being petted. they tolerate it, but it just does not mean enough to them to MOTIVATE them to do anything! Others, like my golden retriever will do anything to sit beside me and have her head rubbed!

4.retrieve.  For many tretriever breeds, this desire is a part of their breeding. Retrieving is a part of ’who the dog is” and can be used as a powerful motivator in training. 

5. time with you. Your dog can be rewarded by just the chance to be with you/ your family doing whatever y’all are doing.  Like I said, my golden wants nothing more out of life than to be right beside me, wherever I am. I can use this desire to be with ‘her people’ to motivate her -  and a quick “time out” without her people can teach her a powerful lesson.

In the world of training, you might hear the words “primary motivator’ or ’secondary motivator” or ‘bridge”. It is helpful to be familiar with these terms  -

Primary Reinforcers: These are the things a dog naturally views as rewards. You don’t have to teach a dog that a liver treat is worth working for. Almost all dogs will view a treat as a primary reinforcer. Likewise, for most retrieving breeds (with a strong prey drive) will view a retrieve or even getting to hold a favorite object as a primary reinforcer. Primary reinforcers are biologically pre-establised; it’s in the breeding. This is why the bringselalert works well for us – Mr Darcy gets to put something in his mouth when he alerts (and he is ‘hard wired’ to retrieve – it is a part of “who he is”/ his breeding) When he is in public with abi, he has a bringsel clipped to his leash. If her blood sugar is out of range, he places this object in his mouth and Abiknows to check. His reward is built into the alert itself! Of course, we add verbal praise / affection to that alert and – when we are home- he ALWAYS gets a retrieve with his precious red kong if it is low.

Secondary Reinforcers: These are also called conditioned reinforcers. Psychology books tell us that a coditioned reinforcer is a previously neutral stimulus. If this neutral stimulus is paired with a primary reinforcer, it acquires the same reinforement properices as the primary reinforcer. That sounds a little complicated  A perfect way to illustrate this idea is how we have been conditioned to view MONEY as a motivator. Money is NOT a primary motivator in the truest sense of the word becaue, there is nothing to make us innately desire these pieces of metal or paper! But, we have been CONDITIONED to understand that money will get us those things which we need – thus, it is a conditioned reinforcer, having acquired the same properties associated with a primary reinforcer: we are highly motivted by money. In the dog world, the dog learns that secondary reinforcer is valuable  because it has been pairedwith primary reinforcers. For dogs, that sound that the food makes when it hits the bottom of your dog’s bowl is a good example. Most dogs will sprint toward that sound because they’ve learned that it’s predictive of food. If your dog will come to that sound, you should be able to train him, through repetition, to come to any sound.

The Bridge - The main purpose of the bridge is to mark a specific behavior and to let the dog know that the reward is coming. But over the course of training, the sound of the bridge—a clickor a one-syllable word—will become a conditioned reinforcer in its own right. The bridge word is the lynchpin in positive field dog training. It allows you to mark behaviors at a great distance and then deliver your reward once the dog has returned to you. Or it allows you to shape a behavior into exactly the behavior you desire.

Mike Stewart has a short video clip where he discusses this topic. I hope to be able to embed clips like this into the blog itself very soon.  For now, if you’d like to hear more,  check out this link: http://outsidek9.com/2009/09/the-five-basic-motivators/

In thinking through the list of commands that a service dog might need, it is probably wrong to say that any one of the commands is more important than another; YET, “leave-it” just might be the most important command you could ever teach your dog.

DADogs are encourgaed to use thier nose – and that *could* get them into trouble, if the handler is not ever-vigilant and if the dog is not trained to be attentive to the handler. SO, one of the earliest behaviors to catch and reinforce and build is ‘watch me’. It has been best for us to have both an automatic “Watch me” – the dog ‘checks in’ with you routinel- as well as a cued ‘watch me’. If the dog sees something curious or exciting or inviting, he should immediately look to his handler. The handler should be ready to give the command ‘leave it’ if the dog needs to be discouraged from the object of his attention.

Having a very solid “leave it’ could save your dog’s life – and, it is a must when taking a service dog into a restaurant!

Our family recently observed just how invaluable this command is as a young pup who is visiting with us struggled with temptations of cumbs on the ground while we were dining out. So, we began to work on this command.

To start teaching “leave-it”, we needed: JD (4 month old British lab from Wildrose Kennels in Oxford, Missisippi), a handler, a helper, a kibble of dog food, a few small bits of vienna sausage, and a clicker, ofcourse! Abi sat on the floor with JD her fist very lightly closed around the piece of dog food. I stood, holding JD’s leash with the bites of vienna sausage on a desk nearby and a clicker in hand. JD naturally wanted the bite of dog food in Abi’s hand. He sniffed and located the temptation – immediately he began to try anything within his means to get that little kibble. He nosed her fist, he pawed her fist, he worked earnestly at getting that little piece of dog food. I waited patiently – AS SOON AS (timing is VERY important) he stopped trying to get that temptation and looked at meto help him figure out what to do, I clicked and offered the vienna sausage. He was surprised and greatful, but immediately began to retry for the kibble in Abi’s hand. As soon as he stopped trying and looked at me, click and treat. With each click, the amount of time he spent working to get the forbidden bite lessened. Within the first few attmempts, he barely even sniffed or looked Abi’s direction, but rather offered a crisp sit and ‘watch me’. This was a good stopping point! Never push the pup too far when introducing a new concept!

We will continue to work on this behavior. In time, we will give it a name, “leave it”. In time, the temptation will not be in Abi’s hand but directly on the floor in front of him and in time, we will not be stationary, but walking slowly on lead. And, in time, after a great many ‘leave its’, this behavior will become an automatic response to any item on the ground.

But, today’s training was successful and we were very proud of JD’s session.

this is the long answer to a question on forum: “how can we get our dog to be more like Mr Darcy?” 

 Mr Darcy is truly astounding – he never misses anything. I shake my head in awe constantly and wonder how we could be so very blessed. As far as giving you any advise to others, that is very difficult – we followed a very different route than many on the forum - neither abi nor i are dog trainers.

 Abi got Mr Darcy when he was 7 weeks old. She has solicited help from a passle of trainers and we have read everything we can get our hands on. She is a dilligent, discipliined, determined young lady and Mr Darcy has been her focus for almost two years. I beleive that there are several things that have contributed to her success:

1. the right dog (Wildrose British Labs are amazing. ALL of Mike’s dogs that are currently working as DADogs are stupendous

2. the right type of training. As Amy has posted on the forum, there are ample studies to indicate that positive reinforcement is much more effective for SD work (most training that bills itself as ‘positive’ is a blend – there are many questions that need to be asked of a trainer who claims to be ‘positive’)

3. the right commitment from my daughter and our family

4. starting with Mr D as a pup.

5. a FEW key people cheering us on!!!

MANY people call me / email me and ask “how do we get started” and i usually tell them “DON’T”. Oh, don’t misunderstand me . . we will NEVER regret our decision to have Mr Darcy. He is the best. However, it is a LONG road from puppy-hood to what Abi has now. I DO believe that their bond is better and that his focus is greater and his training is far superior due to the fact that she started working with him when he was 7 weeks. HOWEVER, there are many many ‘landmines’ along the way . . .soo many places that one can make a fatal mistake when starting with a puppy. We were blessed to get the right answers to our questions all along the way. Liz (PUPT) started us off, Rita (clickn canines) answer countless phone calls, Dee Bogetti gave great advice and. . .We FREQUENTLY visited Wildrose Kennels for Mike Stewarts assistance.
But, most of the credit by far goes to Abi herself who just worked and worked and worked. her commitment has paid off now.

I have hesitated to recommend a service dog organization ‘cos there is so much to consider. I would NEVER personally recommend any place who is not commited to primarily positive training. Some places start families with puppies, some with ‘fully trained dogs’. the puppy places are a good idea (it worked for us and we’d NEVER do anything different)

HOWEVER, a HIGH level of assistance is needed to start with a puppy . . . you need to have a trainer that you meet with on a regular basis – weekly or monthly. there are so many changes as the puppy matures.

As to the ‘fully trained’ places – i have not observed any of them delivering ‘fully trained’ dogs . . .seems like they still need basic obedience or they are still working on scent work, etc . . .. .5,000 or 7,000 or more is LOT to pay for a dog that stilll needs basic obedience or is not strongly alerting or is not even house broken!

Wildrose is now training diabetic alert dogs and i have no doubt that they will set the standard for the DAD community. The Stewarts have a commitment to excellence in all that they do and are pouring a lot into research and development of the RIGHT DOG, THE RIGHT TRAINING and the RIGHT FOLLOW UP.

 There are so many broken DAD teams . . .so many people who did not get the dog they were looking for when they started this journey: that is the reason for this site – to provide support to existing teams and direction to future teams!

As to what you can do to augment your own dog’s alerting, my first advise is to talk to your trainer. There are so many different philosophies – you really need to seek the guidance of your trainer FIRST. Abi has used positive associations to make scent work FUN and a TOP PRIORITY for MR D. When initially training him, she invented games to get him excited and focused on that target odor. She got VERY EXCITED over his success and he fed off her encouragement and reward. Now, he lives to do this work . . .that is what you want in a DAD, a dog that LOVES what he does and does it because he LOVES it!!

a continuation of the last post by Rita Martinez, Clickin Canines :

Just as [discussed in 'How to Chose a Dog'], you will need to check on a prospective trainer. Whether or not you get a started dog or one you will work with and train yourself, there will be training involved. Find a trainer that is familiar in the field of service dogs and particularly in the arena you need the canine skills to assist you. Look for a trainer that is certified to prove they have a background in canine learning theory as well as the practical ability to work with and train a dog. Check on the experience the trainer has under their belt.

As the training of a service dog is critical and needs to be motivating, do think about the style of training you are comfortable with. Dogs trained with correction based methods often have a short working career. They aren’t motivated to continue the work because they were trained through force. Force and correction based training does not promote the motivation to work. Methods using positive reinforcement create a motivated dog that enjoys working and these dogs tend to work for their lifetime.

Summary

After checking on all the different facets of the possible deal, compare and keep your eyes open. Due diligence may save you money and grief. In brief outline, check:

      Buying a dog

            References

            Verification of organization

            Policies, contract

            BBB complaints

            Google or internet search

      Trainer

            Certification

            Experience

            Training style

Rita Maritinez is a CPDT, certified professional dog trainer, with over 30 years of experience in dog training and scent discrimination training . The following is the first part of a 2 part series by Rita concerning  how to begin the search for a diabetic alert dog/ trainer. 

As with any important purchase, it is essential to know what you are getting when buying a trained dog. The term “Due Diligence” has become common in the real estate investment arena. However, it applies in many other areas, including the choosing of a trained dog. Whenever we set out to make a purchase of something we are not knowledgeable about, it is wise to do our ‘due diligence’ and avoid being prey. The internet is a wonderful place to find information and locate organizations. However, just because an organization or business is on the net and has a nice looking site does not make them reputable. Check and verify everything you find there. Ask for references and then also check them. Rarely would someone use an individual as a reference that would say bad things about them, but it wise to check anyway and determine also if there is a reciprocal reason for the good reference. Check to make sure the business is official and check with the better business bureau for any complaints. You can even use a search engine to check for complaints – just put in the business name and add complaints and see what you get. Then take all of what you have gathered and see how the pieces fit together. If there are complaints, are they reputable or simply mean spirited? Ask for a copy of the purchase contract as well as a copy of general policies regarding a dog. Will you own the dog or will they retain the right to take the dog back? What is their policy for returns? Find out what the guidelines are to do business with them. How long have they been in business – what is their success ratio – what is their background with regard to service dogs and service dog training? What type/style of training do they use with the dogs? How are the dogs housed and socialized? Are there health guarantees and certificates of vet exams? You are purchasing a dog that you will entrust with your life. Don’t let emotions over-ride good judgment in your choice.

—Rita Martinez, CPDT