Please let me start with I am a dog person. Always have been always will be. My two children are also dog people. Our oldest drove us nuts asking for a dog. First reason for no, wait until we get a house with a yard. We got the house and the yard but than it was your brother is way too little, let’s wait. Well we could no longer put it off and got a beautiful yellow lab puppy. She was part of the family. She was happy, fun loving, always going, always playing and always wanting to be with the family.
Over the years, she could sense when I was having low blood sugar problems but never really put things together. She just got agitated. But would always be with me but couldn’t make the connection to get help.
We had to put her down two years ago. Hardest thing we ever had to do. And being the dog people we are, 4 months later we started looking for another dog. And yes we got another yellow lab. She is at the beach in my profile picture.
She is from a breeder that has had some of her puppies become diabetic alert dogs. So here is how my new puppy handles my lows. One night I was riding a low and I was trying to micro dose the low but not doing a good job of it. She sense something wasn’t right. And unlike our first, she went downstairs, sat down in front of my husband and barked at him. And she wouldn’t let up. So he came up and asked what was wrong and riding that low for that long wasn’t up to par. But a few more tablets & I came around.
So my question here after my cute little puppy story is,
How has your pet helped you with your diabetes? And I know Terry has an alert dog and was just wondering how one can “train” a dog to recognize lows when they are happening.
And my other big help with my diabetes and my cute little puppy is a lot of walking and ball retrieving. Gotta love labs. Best family dog out there. Yeah for our little four legged family members!
I had a golden retriever, best dog I ever owned, he wasn’t an alert dog but he was the best non-human friend I ever had. I was devastated, like I’m sure you were, when we had to have him put down.
CJ was very attuned to me, he was primarily my dog, at the time I was blessed with his friendship I was not on insulin and was not experiencing lows, I like to believe that he would have been an alert dog. In my mind he was a super dog.
I have had two miniature dachshunds, who sleep in bed with me. The one, who is a red with smooth hair, has a very tiny head and seems to have trouble figuring out the most obvious things, and is totally oblivious to my hypoglycemia episodes. But the other one, a black and tan with wire hair, who is in everything more clever than the other, immediately wakes up when I am low and alerts my wife. The smart dog doesn’t do anything when I’m low during the day, perhaps because she realizes I can take care of myself then.
I have trained my dog to respond to the dexcom low alerts. He comes and paws at me when it alerts, and he gets a treat ! Then I get to “treat” if needed.
I would never have thought of that. This is probably infinitely easier then training a dog to detect actual low BG as you can play the low BG alert sound and likely get your dog trained much faster. Plus test and reinforce at will.
(Without making you actually have low BG.)
This is Great !!!
I shared life with a cat for many years, from the time he was an orphaned kitten. He slept through my diabetes. If I was napping on the sofa, he might come by and nibble through my pump tubing. That was his idea of helping, I guess. But I still loved him, and I was stroking him in my lap when he died of old age.
I agree. People sometimes don’t give the companion, friend, family member the credit our pets deserve. Having a pet gives us more to think about and love each and everyday. Forget if you’re lucky enough to have that special pet that can help you, just being there Day in and day out is such a comfort! So sorry for your loss but I’m sure you have great memories that continue to put a smile on your face!
It was easy to train my dog, using the G4 receiver TRY IT option. He got lots of treats during that phase, and easy to give him refresher training.
He seems to respond best to the 55 low alert that is so obnoxious. But he may also sense something that the Alert dogs recognise.
Dogs are such lovable creatures. They just want to please their human, yet expect so little in return.
Sorry – I couldn’t resist!
My constant companion, Norm.
My cats have given me so much love. Long before D. I lost my Wizard and my health was much worse so I got Quinn sooner than I planned. Wiz would always be with me when I was low and he loved me so much- I miss him every day. I was hoping to train Quinn to alert me but I’m too exhausted to try. I have trained him to use the toilet but he prefers his other litter boxes. He does try to chew my tubing so I have to sleep with it under clothes. He’s a little looney guy and jumps on his sister constantly so he has to wear a thunder coat. He’s a handful- a pure bred Siamese- he’s very social but not as talkative as Wiz was. Quinn will jump on my back from the floor or a counter and perch on my shoulder- he’ll chew my hair and try to pull it out too. He’s very energetic.
OMG that is the best idea ever!!! I was wondering if there was a way to help my little puppy recognize my lows but wow, this would be so much easier. I am going to call our dog trainer for some pointers and get this on started. Thanks for a super great idea!
Terry, he is beautiful! You just have to love that cute lab face! They just make you smile!
I am hoping to see you and Norm in San Diego next summer! It will be great putting a real person to all the knowledge you share each and everyday with all of us!
This is especially useful for any low Dex alerts that you may not hear while sleeping. Overnight alerts by trained hypoglycemia alert dogs are the hardest to consistently perform. I think this is a neat short-cut for pet owners using this indirect audible prompt.
Biological amplifier? Complete with wet tongue kisses?
Great. I would love to hear what the trainer says. My dog is so treat oriented it was easy, but might be different for each dog.
I have had labs all my life. My last lab was incredibly smart. My daughter’s 5th grade science project was on “Cancer Sniffing Dogs”. We taught our Lab to sniff out the “cancer”. My daughter’s classmates enjoyed the demonstration during her oral presentation.
I just read about gluten sniffing dogs. How nice to be able to prevent gluten exposures for those with celiac disease. I think you can successfully train a dog to detect many things.
Anyway, I lost my lab to cancer. She was 13. My heart was broken as we were so close. Not ready for another one yet, but I search the lab rescue groups all the time. So, soon.
I don’t have a personal pet because I am away from home a lot for work, but I fully consider my father’s kitten Fluff to be “mine”. I left home at 17, but my parents get to see a stupid amount of me now they have a delicious little cat.
He is completely useless with regards to hypo detection, but the oxytocin rush I get when I cuddle him just has to be beneficial to one’s health. I can feel any stress just melt away. When I’m away working (2000km from “my” kitten), I get daily photos and occasional Facetimes.
I’m still devastated that we lost his sister Spokey a few months ago. She was also a very satisfactory kitten, loving, amusing and very clever. She might have been trainable re hypos etc. But she was too adventurous and encountered a large vehicle.
What a great feed!
Only the other day when walking my dogs at the beach two golden retrievers came up and wouldn’t leave me alone-I was also trying to ride a low and it turned out they were therapy dogs!
I have two cavoodles, one of them has gotten me out of bed before when I wasn’t getting up to treat a bad low. My husband works away for weeks at a time and was home alone. She wouldn’t leave me alone-pawing, barking. I initially thought she wanted to go out. Once I tested and got food first she just went back to bed again!
Great idea to train them to help id lows. I’d trust my pooches more than my CGM at times!
Hehe. My other dog (in my pic) simply decides to bark at possums at 3am. No need to set an alarm for overnight checks 
I wasn’t on insulin yet when we lost my last cat, so I don’t know if she would have had a natural alert capability. That was over four years ago and we don’t have another pet yet. We are thinking of getting one, and it sure would be nice if she happened to be able to alert.
Maybe I should go to the cat rescue house somewhat low and see if it draws the attention of any of the cats. But I suspect until there was a bond between cat and human, the chances of an alert would be somewhat slim.