Training for a new career sure is hard...but being a diabetic is even harder

A couple of weekends ago mom and I took a trip up to Oakley, CA to visit a really nice woman named Rita Martinez.  Since mom has retired from teaching public classes I have volunteered to help her learn a new career - training Medical Alert Dogs - and this really nice Rita lady is helping her to learn.  My best dog-friend Obi and his mom Laura joined us too!  Did you guys know it gets hot up there??! 

I spent the morning at Rita's sniffing things.  You see, this is one of the first steps in training a Medical Alert Dog.  Mom tells me that what I'm learning how to identify now is the "Diabetic Low Scent."  You see, Medical Alert Dogs are trained to let their humans know there is something wrong by smelling them, and then alerting them that there is a problem.  You might wonder where mom finds the scent to train me with - right now a very nice, tall young man spits on a piece of cotton when his "blood sugar" is low.  So, mom presents the scent to me in a variety of situations and when I notice it (usually I just sniff it) she calls me to her for a treat.   Mom tells me that we're going to turn this into a fun game soon.  I can't wait! 

We're also working on a few other things - right now I can't honestly say these other things feel much different than working on obedience or tricks.  So far, mom has taught me to "punch" her with my nose.  She tells me that this will eventually become my "alert".  The next training step for us is to teach me to punch mom on any body part I can find when I smell the "Diabetic Low" instead of just when mom asks me to "punch".  Honestly, I really have a hard time believing you humans can't smell this stuff!!  To us dogs it's like flashing lights saying, "HELLO - chemical change in the body here!!"  (And PS - we CAN smell fear!)

Once I'm "alerting", mom is going to teach me to signal whether the scent is high or low.  I'm having a little bit of a hard time with the signal part - I keep pushing mom's hand around, but haven't quite figured out exactly what she wants yet.  I suspect she might want me to push her hand down, because she rewards me more often when I do that.   I think I overheard Rita say one time that after I give her the alert that something is wrong, she will then ask me to identify whether the scent is the high scent or the low scent and I'll push her hand in the appropriate direction.  I think I'll try pushing it down on our next session and see what happens.

There are also other types of Medical Alert Dogs - one dog that I met at a workshop once lets his human know that she is about to have a seizure and leads her to safety.  My sister Bella can smell when a dog is about to have a seizure and will stand over them until the danger has passed.  What a good sis she is!  Too bad she already has a job as Veterinary Hospital Mascot, because she'd be good at that one!

Well, wish me luck in my training - I'll keep you updated on my progress (and have more information on service dogs to share too!)  I overheard mom say the other day that it's a great experience working with the diabetic people - it makes her very grateful every day for her own health!

)~  Wags!!  Astro T.W. Dog

PS - Check out Rita's website for some more information about Service Dogs.

And check out the VERY cute picture of me in my service dog vest: