Does anyone own a Diabetic Alert Dog? Or do you know anyone that has one? I’m about to get one and I’m looking for advice, and looking for ways to fundraise. Any suggestions? Thank you!
I have a hypoglycemia alert dog. Feel free to post any questions that you may have about living with a diabetes alert service dog. My dog has been paired with me for over five years. It’s been a great all-around experience. I have no regrets as it has materially improved my life in many ways. I live alone and my dog, Norm, provides low blood sugar alerts, companionship, and definitely adds to my emotional stability.
I didn’t have to raise money for my dog since he was placed with me by a non-profit agency that only charged some minimal supply fees. I think writing a from-the-heart story about what it feels like to live with diabetes and share some of the challenges it presents in your life. You could also describe how these dogs are trained and how such a dog would make a difference in your life. Once you have a well written story you could then post it in various fund-raising sites and also use it to appeal to friends and family. Information about the training agency that you wish to receive the dog from would help, too.
If you do a TuDiabetes site search (the magnifying glass icon at the upper right f the page) and use the term “diabetes alert dog,” you’ll find lots of material going back several years.
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Thank you Terry4 for responding to my post. I have a fundraising page set up on CrowdRise (Crowdrise + GoFundMe) which talks about both being a diabetic and the service dogs. How long did it take you to get your dog through the non-profit agency? I saw on-line that there’s usually a 2-5 year waiting period to get one from non-profit agencies. Do you remember the name of the place you got your dog from?
Thanks again for your reply!
My waiting period was short. I applied In January and received my dog in March. Dogs for Diabetics placed my dog, Norm, with me. I’ve since affiliated myself with Early Alert Canines, another diabetes alert dog training non-profit in the San Francisco Bay Area. Both of these agencies limit the geographical area (west coast states) in which they will place dogs.
Will this training agency provide follow up support post-placement? That’s important as a significant amount of training takes place once the dog is placed with the handler. Norm and I did not graduate as a team until we could document (weekly spreadsheet summaries) a high percentage of accurate alerts. This took about six months. Not every placement is successful. Will this agency allow you to return your dog if it doesn’t work out and then place another one with you?
I read your well-written appeal at the CrowdRise link. Good luck with your efforts.
Thank you Terry for getting back to me so quickly. Diabetic Alert Dogs of
America does provide post-placement support. They train the dog for 8
months or so using my scent, and then they bring the dog out to me and stay
with me for a number of days to teach me how to work with the dog. It
seems like a very good service they provide. I’m trying to find out if
there is a non-profit place out here that might be able to help before I
send my deposit to DADofAmerica. You wouldn’t happen to have a list of
non-profits on the east coast would you? I’m in MA. Thank you!
No, but I do know about someone else from MA in that researched this topic thoroughly a few years ago. His name is Dave and you can see how his story unfolded at his blog, Doggone Diabetes. His blog contains a detailed Q&A story I wrote about my experience getting a diabetes alert service dog.