How to Train Your Dog to Detect Low Blood Sugar

Hello Kim, Check out this video on teaching your dog to bring you things, which in your case should work for picking up dropped items. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdFka56hAtM Also, check out this article on training a dog to pick up dropped items. https://wagwalking.com/training/pick-up-dropped-items When pup struggles to grab the item with their mouth, then make the object move, especially when practicing with something like a sock that can be wiggled. You can also tie a string to the item to make it move toward you a bit or jump a little, to reengage your dog's attention. Just don't get them so excited they being to destroy the item. As soon as pup picks the up, and later brings it to you, then be ready to reward, so the focus is on bringing you the item and not just chewing the item quickly. Since you will be training pup to bring things you drop and not just specific items around the house, in addition to teaching a verbal command like "Bring" "Get It", ect... I have found that adding in a pointing gesture toward the specific item you want on the ground can help some dogs figure out which item you are talking about. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Stephanie, That depends a lot on pup's current level of socialization and manners. The hardest part of service dog training is often the public access part of the training. Pup needs to be adaptable, calm, and not easily distracted or reactive while around a lot of different people, animals, noises, smells, sights, and locations, so pup can qualify to accompany the kids places to help in daily life. Socialization is age dependent with a puppy's development, so that can be extremely difficult or sometimes impossible to change if that's lacking. Obedience is best taught young but can be taught later, and many dogs already have some level of obedience that you can just improve upon if their overall socialization and temperament is a good fit. Pup is not too old for the task training as long as they have a natural aptitude for it - like a good scenting ability, human focus, drive to work and learn. Service Dog training is a lot of scent work and reward based training for something like blood sugar alerts. Be aware that service dog training tends to take 1-2 years, depending on pup's current level of training. So pup will be a bit older once trained, so will have less years to work before needing to retire when abilities decrease once older. You will just have to decide if pup seems like a good candidate and if it's worth it to you to train pup, or if a younger dog is something you want to consider starting with, becoming a two dog family. If pup is dog reactive or aggressive in anyway I will say up front that I wouldn't even start service dog training. I would consider a puppy with parents or grandparents or previous litters from those parents who have a history of successful service dog, therapy, or search and rescue work. Future Service dogs are something I recommend finding a very high quality breeder for because there is a genetic component and looking at family temperaments and abilities can help you find a good fit. Rescues can make great service dogs but its more of a gamble, and starting with a puppy is often easier socialization wise than an older dog, and you don't always know what to expect from a puppy without knowing genetic background. When choosing a service dog, you want a dog who is not timid and not overly dominant and aggressive, one who is smart, responsive, motivated, and people focused, and one who bounces back and adapts easily from being startled or introduced to something new. Some of these characteristics can be somewhat determined by learning how to evaluate puppies early. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Taylor, How is pup with other people, dogs, and general distractions? How is pup's nose with scents? If pup does well around others and in public and his nose is good for scent work, there is a good chance you can successfully train him. Be aware that service dog training takes about 1-2 years (depending on pup's current level of obedience and social skills), so pup may be a bit old by the time you are ready for him to work with you all the time. Whether that's worth it to you, or whether you would choose to start fresh with a puppy depends a lot on your preference and how trained pup already is for the public access part of the training, since that actually tends to take more work than the actual skill of scenting your blood sugar fluctuations. To qualify as a service dog, first, pup needs to be allowed public places - this means working on pups general obedience, socialization, and manners, so that pup can go places, get along well with everyone, and be well mannered enough not to disturb others. Joining a Canine Good Citizen or Intermediate obedience class is a good way to work on those things. How is pup around kids, various ages, races, and personalities of people, new objects, noises, other animals? Pup needs to be able to be calm and not distracted by those things. Pup should be able to handle a child or adult suddenly running up and hugging or petting them (although someone should never do that to a service dog - it probably will happen at some point when in public with pup so often). The socialization and manners part of Service Dog training is actually the hardest part many times. Without it a dog can be asked to leave places by restaurant and building owners for causing a disruption and they won't qualify as a service dog. Pup will always be a dog still, so will never be perfect at all times but should do very well. To qualify as a Service Dog a dog needs to be well mannered in public as mentioned above, and be able to perform at least one specialized task that directly assists with the medical or psychological condition they are trained to help with. The person also has to have a doctor approved medical or psychological condition that qualifies - hyperglycemia or hypoglycemia should qualify. Blood sugar detection training is typically done using saliva samples taken during times of high or low blood sugar (don't put yourself in danger with too high of a low or high intentionally though). The dog is taught an alert, such as Sit, paw, bark, or nose. You then practice having the dog sniff the sample (which you collected and froze for future practice), give their alert, and you rewarding with a treat. Practice this until you don't have to tell the dog to alert but they will simply alert when they smell the sample, then you reward. Once pup can alert really well on the sample, then saliva samples taken during good blood sugar read times and saliva samples taken during highs or lows (it sounds like highs mostly in your case) practiced together - with the dog only being praised and rewarded for alerting to the high or low sample, and not the normal sample. Ignore incorrect alerts and don't reward them. Practice this until pup can reliably alert to the correct sample only. Once pup alerts consistently, you plant the sample on yourself and practice with the scent somewhere like your pocket - rewarding alerts. You then plant the scent on yourself at random times during your day and in different environments to help pup do the alert when they aren't in "training mode" to teach them to pay attention to you in various environments and be ready to alert at all times. If you want to teach pup to alert for lows, in addition to your highs, like in some diabetic cases, I would teach the high first (or whichever is bigger priority for you), wait until pup is reliable with that, then teach pup a second alert cue, like nudging for the high and pawing you for the low, and then work on teaching that pawing alert one also, separately, after pup has already learned to nudge for the high and is good at that first, so pup is learning two skills by themselves really. You can also teach additional things that benefit you, such as pup going to get help if you pass out. Social media, such as instagram and facebook, is actually a good resource to connect and follow other owner-trainers who are teaching their own pups tasks too. It can be a good place to meet others in your city doing the same thing to connect for practicing things like public access or task training with their dogs. There are trainers who offer remote and in person service dog training assistance - whose role is not to take the dog and train it entirely themselves (which is great but much pricier), but who can guide you in training your own dog as needed for a lower price. Youtube is also a resource to find service dog trainers who share some how to videos on teaching specific tasks to help you trouble shoot as you go. For now, I suggest starting with pup's public access - with socialization, manners, and obedience. You can work on task training at the same time if you have time, but obedience and socialization is often more time sensitive. While doing that, you can certainly reward pup's natural alerts right now to further encourage them. In the United States there is no official certification required for a dog to pass as a Service Dog. A qualifying medical or psychological condition, great behavior while in public, and at least one task that directly helps with your condition is all that is required. Carrying a copy of ADA law regarding service dogs, pup's vet papers, a note from your doctor simply stating your need for a service dog (you don't have to disclose what condition you need help with to anyone), and a vest for pup letting people know pup is a working service dog can help people allow pup into places more easily though. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Molly, As you probably know to qualify as a service dog pup will need to be great around other dogs for the public access portion of service dog qualification. Even if pup can't go in public places with you, pup could still be trained to help you at home, then start fresh with a younger puppy in a few years, or get your older dog to the point where they would be okay with just one other dog in the household even if they weren't at the level where they could handle the high social requirements for public access. Before considering adding a new puppy or service dog work, pup's dog aggression will need to be addressed though. I would start by seeing if there is a G.R.O.W.L. class in your area, which is a class for dog aggressive/reactive dogs. Where all the dogs in class where a basket muzzle for safety and are intensively socialized with the other dogs in a structured environment. Because of the safety concerns, and especially the resources and environmental control needed to address dog aggression most quickly, I would consider working with a training group for this type of need. You will want a training group that has access to a lot of other dogs, at least two trainers, so there is a second person to handle the other dog while one person instructs you and works with pup, and control of the training scenarios, so you can adjust distance, repeating the same interaction with a dog over and over and over again (at first just a walk past at a distance), train around the same dog repeatedly until pup is desensitized to that dog, then be able to move onto a new dog, and repeat that over and over, and choose the types of dogs with particular temperaments to work around - starting with those pup is less reactive toward and gradually moving onto harder examples - like more excitable, same sex, ect... If pup has ever redirected aggression toward you, you will also need additional safety measures, like desensitizing pup to wearing a basket muzzle ahead of time, and having pup wear that, or tethering pup to something secure a safe distance away from any person while you train. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Greg, Does that mean that your training is going well so far? If so, I am happy to hear it. If you run into issues training, we are happy to answer questions here. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden