Senator seems to have the alert down well. I can say that he can definitely recognize the scent of both the high and the low blood sugar.
He is learning to differentiate between them. He is not as accurate on this as I would like him to be and we are working on that. I've been using training games and lots of repetition during his alerts to get him to be more accurate. He is better than 50%, but not up to the 85% which is the goal.
Now that I'm feeling better and the weather is cooperating, we are working on doing the alert in various situations. I put the scent pads into test strip containers and take them with me when we go places. He has been very good in indoor situations and fair in outdoor ones. This is understandable with wind currents and so many other interesting scents. At this point, if he doesn't get it, I'll let him see the container just to allow him to be successful. I think its good to let him have this experience to learn to filter the other scents and tune into the BG scent. I'll know that he "has it" the first time he alerts me during a walk. That is the most common time for me to experience a low, so its important that he masters this.
I've also been working on socialization. I had to put this mostly on hold this winter and I can tell that he has lost some skills. So, we are working on leash walking and public access. He has seemed very ill at ease in some situations. He can't seem to relax and lie down under a table.
Senator did have one very nice alert lately. I was busy looking at something with Gary and he came up from behind me to paw me to tell me that I was low. Its the first time that he has approached me from behind, so I was very pleased. Sometimes, he'll actually wait for me to move so that he can paw me from the front which is not a good thing. I appreciate his good manners as to not interrupting me, which seems to be what he is thinking, but
in a low blood sugar situation, waiting is not a good thing.
I had a wonderful experience last week with Senator. I took him into the school to talk about diabetes, my transplant and diabetes alert dogs. He was of course the star of the show. He behaved very well while I was talking. I let him wander around the room and visit with the kids which they all enjoyed, mostly Senator. He performed a nice alert demonstration too. The kids who were in 5th graders in the gifted program asked some really great questions which I really appreciated.
He is learning to differentiate between them. He is not as accurate on this as I would like him to be and we are working on that. I've been using training games and lots of repetition during his alerts to get him to be more accurate. He is better than 50%, but not up to the 85% which is the goal.
Now that I'm feeling better and the weather is cooperating, we are working on doing the alert in various situations. I put the scent pads into test strip containers and take them with me when we go places. He has been very good in indoor situations and fair in outdoor ones. This is understandable with wind currents and so many other interesting scents. At this point, if he doesn't get it, I'll let him see the container just to allow him to be successful. I think its good to let him have this experience to learn to filter the other scents and tune into the BG scent. I'll know that he "has it" the first time he alerts me during a walk. That is the most common time for me to experience a low, so its important that he masters this.
I've also been working on socialization. I had to put this mostly on hold this winter and I can tell that he has lost some skills. So, we are working on leash walking and public access. He has seemed very ill at ease in some situations. He can't seem to relax and lie down under a table.
Senator did have one very nice alert lately. I was busy looking at something with Gary and he came up from behind me to paw me to tell me that I was low. Its the first time that he has approached me from behind, so I was very pleased. Sometimes, he'll actually wait for me to move so that he can paw me from the front which is not a good thing. I appreciate his good manners as to not interrupting me, which seems to be what he is thinking, but
in a low blood sugar situation, waiting is not a good thing.
I had a wonderful experience last week with Senator. I took him into the school to talk about diabetes, my transplant and diabetes alert dogs. He was of course the star of the show. He behaved very well while I was talking. I let him wander around the room and visit with the kids which they all enjoyed, mostly Senator. He performed a nice alert demonstration too. The kids who were in 5th graders in the gifted program asked some really great questions which I really appreciated.
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