Hi everyone! I have decided that want to get a dog in the near future, and I want it to be a diabetes dog. The only problem is, I don’t know which companies are good,trustworthy places to get a diabetes alert dog from. I have heard about Dogs4Diabetics and Canine Hope for Diabetics, but I know there are more. If anyone knows if these places are good or knows if other good places please tell me. Also, I want my dog to be Austrialian Sheppard. I am wondering if anyone knows if the diabetes dog places will accept a Austrailian Sheppard puppy to train? Also, with Dogs4Diabetics, do you absolutely have to live within 3 hours of the place? I am wondering if I could still get a dog from them anyway.*Anna-Kate
Dogs4Diabetics is reputable. It grew out of a partnership with Guide Dogs for the Blind, one of the largest guide dog schools in North America, and that partnership is still going strong. Not sure about any others.
With most service dog programs, applicants to a program do not get to bring a puppy to train - the dogs are trained from a young age by the organization and then matched with an applicant. The training that the applicant goes through is actually just training for the human in how to work with the dog - the dog has already been in training for months or years prior to being matched. Often, organizations will also breed their own dogs. Dogs4Diabetics uses "career change" dogs from Guide Dogs for the Blind - dogs who are suitable as service dogs but for whatever reason cannot pass guide dog training. This is done because service dogs need very specific temperaments which a dog that you get from a breeder may or may not have. For example, if a dog gets scared by strange sights or loud noises or is too excitable around people or in public places, they will not be successful as a service dog.
If you want a dog just to have at home as a pet who will alert you to blood sugar changes overnight, then it might be worth doing some research on dog training and, specifically, how to train dogs to detect and alert to low blood sugar, and then just train your own. If you do this, though, your dog will not be a service dog (i.e., eligible to accompany you in all public places).