How to Train Your Dog to Detect Low Blood Sugar

Hello Craig, If you regularly test your son's blood sugar, then when it tests high and when it tests low, have your son suck on something absorbent that is made out of cotton and not scented, until the material is saturated. A cotton ball, gauze pad, paper towel, or napkin will usually work. When you remove the material from his mouth, use something to remove it that will not add your own scent to it, such as the inside of a zip-lock bag or tweezers. Place one sample into an airtight ziplock bag, and then place that bag into another bag or into an airtight plastic container, preferably the later, and freeze it. Label whether the sample was of low sugar or high sugar saliva. Freeze all of the samples this way. When you are ready to train, you will take the sample out of the freezer and let is thaw a bit, and then store it in the fridge when not training with it, and use it for three days. Throw it away after three days. Once you have collected enough samples for you for training with, start by training your dog with the low sugar samples, since that is the most important alert for you. Open the bag and let your dog sniff the sample, teach your dog a specific alert signal, or choose to encourage an alert that your puppy chooses on his own, like pawing, barking, whining, or something else obvious. First reward your puppy whenever he smells the bag, then after you have taught him the alert signal, reward him whenever he alerts by doing that signal when he smells the sample. When he has reached this point, then introduce a non blood sugar sample, and only reward him if he alerts to the right sample, so that he will learn to pay attention to the smell. Do not reward wrong alerts at any point during the training. Practice this until he will only alert to the right sample, no matter how many samples you give him. When he can do that, then hide the sample somewhere like your son's pocket, and teach him to find it on your son and alert you that it is there. After you have done the low blood sugar alert training and your dog is extremely good at that one, then you might be able to train your dog to alert for the high blood sugar too, by teaching him a different type of alert to do when he smells that one. I say might because some dogs will struggle with more than one alert, but many can handle multiple alerts. You will have to see whether or not your dog seems confused when you add the second scent, and choose based on that whether to train for both. Make sure that you train the alerts to be pretty different to prevent confusion. For example, if your dog barks to alert for low blood sugar, then have him do something like paw at you for the high blood sugar. Keep the alerts different enough that your dog is not likely to mix them up. When you have taught both alerts, then practice with the low sugar sample, the high sugar sample, and a non scented sample, and ignore any wrong alerts or wrong type of alert. Only reward your puppy for the right type of alert for the right type of sample. Sort of like matching up cards in the Memory card game, the pair needs to go together, only then does your dog win. It does sound like Hazel has a sensitive enough sense of smell and is sensitive enough to your son's body language to be able to learn how to alert, so that is wonderful. I would definitely begin training this while Hazel is still a puppy, but expect it to take him longer to learn this while he is still young. Be patient. Even though it might take him longer to learn it though, training it while he is a puppy will help him to retain it for life and form an extremely strong habit of doing it, as well as teach him to love doing it, so that he will be more likely to do it without your prompting in real life when he smells the low or high sugar levels on his own. Basically the extra work of training him while young will be very worth it. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Christy, For a dog to become a Service Dog there is no official test that you have to take. You do need to have a medical professional diagnose you with the condition that your dog is assisting you with, and many places like airlines will require proof via a signed doctor's note. Your dog will also need to have certain skills in order to be admitted into places. Any Service Dog should have these skills or never be used as a Service Dog in the first place though. She will need to generally be very well behaved, non-disruptive, completely safe around other people and animals, and know how to do at least one specific task that directly helps your diagnosed condition, which in this case would be blood sugar alert. Going through a Canine Good Citizen class and passing a Canine Good Citizenship test at the end of the class will significantly help with the general manners and behaviors that Sophie will need while out in public with you, so I highly recommend going through one of those with her. Although not required at all public locations, in order to avoid issues, I would also recommend carrying a copy of your pet's up to date medical records, a copy of ADA law (American's with Disability Act), with the part that discusses where Service Dogs are legally allowed to go and what does or does not qualify a dog as a Service Dog. Many online companies will sell you laminated copies of this law. You will also want to provide a visual indicator that your dog is a Service Dog, such as a Service Dog vest or harness or at least a collar that says Service Dog. Places such as airlines also require that your pup has his own ID. You can buy this online also. Although not required to go into most places, certain Service Dog vests have a plastic visible sleeve where you can place this ID. This mostly just helps avoid you avoid confrontation when entering places with your pup. By far the most important things your pup will need is extremely good manners, which a Canine Good Citizen and other obedience classes will help with, great socialization skills, meaning that your pup is not reactive or aggressive towards people, dogs, or anything else he will be encountering, and at least one specialized skill, in this case the blood sugar alert training. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Eva, First, whenever you feel like your blood sugar is getting low, suck on a cotton ball, paper towel, or gauze pad, until has absorbed a decent amount of spit. Place the spit filled item into a freezer safe container, and then place that container in a second container and stick the entire thing in your freezer. You will later use these pads for training sessions. You can simply take one out of the freezer and use it for a couple of sessions when needed, and place it into the refrigerator in between sessions. When you do this, be careful not to let your blood sugar get dangerously low. Your health is first priority, so start this process when it feels like it is just starting to get low while you fix yourself a snack to eat when you take the gauze out. If you have a blood sugar monitor, then depend on that for when to suck on the gauze and eat. To make the process quicker you may want to keep a thing of gauze pads where you place the snacks. When you have collected several samples, then you can choose one of the methods from the article "How to Train Your Dog to Detect Low Blood Sugar". The idea is to reward your dog whenever he sniffs the gauze with the scent on it. When he associates that with a reward, then teach him to do something like paw at you, bark, nudge you, or jump on you when he detects a scent to get his treat. You can teach him the alert part by teaching him to nudge or jump or alert you another way when you give him a command. Later you can add the scent to the training. Once he knows an alert command, let him sniff the scent, tell him his alert command, and then reward him when he does the alert command. After you have practiced doing that by telling him to alert you, let him sniff the scent but then don't say anything, wait for him to remember the training and "guess" that the alert comes next. If he alerts you, then reward him with extra treats that time. If he does not alert you, then remind him what to do by giving him the alert command. Practice letting him sniff the blood sugar saliva sample, and then pausing to see if he will alert you on his own, before giving him the alert command again. Do this until he can consistently alert you when he smells the scent without being told to alert you. When he can do that, then add a non-scented gauze, paper towel, or whatever you are using, and practice with both the scented one and the non-scented one. Make sure that you, as the human, can tell a slight difference between them so that you will know when to reward him, since you will not be able to smell the low-blood sugar scent yourself. Practice with the scented and the non-scented one, but only reward him for alerting you when he alerts you after smelling the blood sugar saliva scented one. To generally get him qualified as a Service Dog he must be able to perform a task that assists you, which in your case is the alert task. Your low blood sugar must be diagnosed by a doctor to prove that you need a Service Dog. He must also be very well behaved, Potty Trained, non-aggressive, and non-disruptive in public. Attending a Canine Good Citizen class with him will help with the general manners. If you do not wish to take him places with you, but only need him to alert you when you are at home, then you can simply practice the scent detection and alert part and you do not have to get him fully trained as a Service Dog. You will need to practice the scent alerting very frequently in order for him to get good enough to do it when you need him to without prompting him. When he can distinguish between the scented gauze and the normal gauze and only alert you when he smells the scented one, then practice hiding a gauze somewhere like your pocket when he is not expecting to find it and rewarding him if he discovers the scent and alerts you. At first, you may need to encourage him to sniff your pocket if he does not alert you on his own. As you practice this, he should begin to pay attention to whether or not the scent is present in day to day life, which is what you want for him to alert you to the real thing. Practice his detection around distractions, so that he will alert you even when other things are going on, like guests are present or other dogs are around. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Micah, It does not sounds like Ruby would be able to pass the necessary requirements to be a service dog in public with you. It might be easier to get a new puppy and start training and socialization early with puppy kindergarten, intermediate obedience, and a Canine Good Citizen Class. Those three classes cover a lot of the necessary socialization and training requirements that a dog needs. After that general training you can teach the specific diabetic alert task which is not extremely difficult if the dog has a good sense of smell. It can take years to treat an older dog's aggression or fear issues. It is possible to improve it, but highly unlikely that Ruby will be able to get to the point of being a Service Dog. You can work on training Ruby to alert to your blood sugar still though. You will not be able to take her everywhere with you but she will be able to alert you at home, at the park, and places where she is allowed entrance. There is no harm in working on her social skills. Even if she cannot become a service dog she would at least learn to relax around people more, which makes it easier to take her to dog friendly places. If she happens to respond really well to the socialization training, then you could always move onto service dog training after. If not, you have not lost anything because she will still likely be at least a bit more comfortable around other people. I would recommend teaching her to alert you to your sugar at home either way. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Stephanie, Assuming that the dog you get has a natural inclination for scent, which I suggest reading up on how to test a puppy's scenting ability before you choose your puppy, the actual alert task training can be accomplished within a year. If you plan to use your dog as a Service Dog, with very regular training starting as a puppy with early socialization and manners training, the rare dog will be trained well enough and be mature enough by the first year to accompany you to public places as a Service Dog. It takes most dogs two to three years to learn enough self-control, socialization skills, focus on the owner, and calmness to pass as a Service Dog in public without being a nuisance or distraction. How long it takes will mostly depend on a combination of your own training work and your dog's individual maturity level and personality. If your dog is not ready to go into highly distracting places like classes and malls by a year, you should still be able to take him with you to other dog friendly places to practice and have him assist you while he is still learning. You can utilize his alerts at home, at outdoor, dog-friendly restaurants and coffee shops, pet stores, feed stores, and many hardware stores, as well as parks, outdoor malls, farmer's markets, outdoor sports games, and many other places where he can practice being in public and assisting you with blood sugar alerts. I have seen a handful of dogs become fully trained within a year with a lot of work from the owner, and the average dog take two to three years of consistent training. Do not skip early positive socialization with your puppy. That will largely effect your dog's ability to handle Service Dog work later. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Donna, To teach the alert part, first decide what you want your dog to do for his alert. This might be nudging you, barking, climbing onto you, or something else that will get your attention. Teach your dog that specific action, like how to bark when you say "Speak" or how to nudge you when you say "Touch". Once your dog understands the command that will be his alert, then teach him how to detect the scent of your low blood sugar using a low blood sugar saliva sample and one of the methods from the article that you commented on above: https://wagwalking.com/training/detect-low-blood-sugar When he has learned the scent, then when he detects the scent correctly give him his alert command like "speak" or "touch" and reward him after he does his alert. Practice this for at least a month, and until you can wait five seconds after he detects the scent correctly and he will alert you by doing something like barking or nudging you during those five seconds without being told, on his own. When he does that, then praise him and reward him a lot! If he does not do it on his own and after five seconds, then give him his alert command to help him figure out what to do, then reward him a normal amount when he alerts when commanded to. Practice this until he needs to be reminded less and less to alert you when he detects the scent and instead does it on his own as part of his scent detection. To teach him an initial command like "Speak" that you can use to teach him to alert you, decide what you want his alert to be and teach him that thing like you would a trick or any other command. Here is an article on how to teach "Touch": https://wagwalking.com/training/tap-objects-with-his-nose Use one of the methods from that article on "Touch" to teach him to nudge you, but instead of teaching your dog to touch an object have him touch somewhere like your lower leg. Choose somewhere that he will always he able to get to and reach. To teach your dog to "Speak" check out this article that I have linked below and follow whichever method your dog responds to well. https://wagwalking.com/training/train-a-german-shepherd-to-speak To teach another, different or additional alert cue check out Wag Walking's Training Resources Page for additional how to dog training articles or look up videos on YouTube from qualified trainers. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden