How to Train Your Dog to Detect Low Blood Sugar

Hello, How is pup is 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). The public access part of the training takes the longest usually, 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. During pup's first year, I would focus most on socialization and manners. Those things will be more time sensitize than the task training, which can be done now but can also be done as an adult too. Socialization gets harder the longer you wait though. Manners are harder to teach once pup has acquired bad habits that need to be undone. 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). Without the socialization and manners 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 - of diabetes 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 though). The dog is taught an alert, such as Sit, paw, bark, or nose. You then practice having the dog sniff the sample, give their alert on command, and you reward 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 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 highs, in addition to your lows, like in some diabetic cases, I would teach the low first (or whichever is more concerning for you), wait until pup is reliable with that, then teach pup a second alert cue, like nudging for the first and pawing you for the second, and then work on teaching that second one also, separately, so pup is learning two skills 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 with people doing similar 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 Ray, 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). The dog is taught an alert, such as Sit, paw, bark, or nose. You then practice having the dog sniff the sample, give their alert, and you reward 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 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 highs, in addition to your lows, like in some diabetic cases, I would teach the low first, wait until pup is reliable with that, then teach pup a second alert cue, like nudging for the first and pawing you for the second, and then work on teaching that second one also, separately, so pup is learning two skills 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 with people doing similar 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. In addition to the task training you will want to work on overall obedience and manner and any behavior issue that would make public access an issue. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Cinthia, The socialization needed to be a service dog can be something that you can't regain later in life, but if pup was already socialized well and does great around other animals and people, the obedience training and service tasks can likely still be taught at this age. If pup isn't able to make up for lost time with socialization and do well enough around others to go in public with you, you could still teach pup to alert you at night at home most likely. Whether pup can be taught that depends more on pup's natural scenting ability and motivation to work with you, than it does pup's age. If pup has the natural aptitude being a little older shouldn't prevent pup from working with you. Expect the training to take longer at night age, and be prepared to work on this for a year before pup is reliable. Pup should be able to alert some before then, but reliability takes time and practice, often service dogs are trained for 1-2 years depending on where they will need to accompany you and what tasks they will be expected to perform, so pup will be around 6 when they are fully trained. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Deborah, How is pup is 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 - hypoglycemia by itself or a type of diabetes that can trigger 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). The dog is taught an alert, such as Sit, paw, bark, or nose. You then practice having the dog sniff the sample, give their alert, and you reward 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 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 highs, in addition to your lows, like in some diabetic cases, I would teach the low first, wait until pup is reliable with that, then teach pup a second alert cue, like nudging for the first and pawing you for the second, and then work on teaching that second one also, separately, so pup is learning two skills 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 with people doing similar 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 Mil, You can generally teach a dog to detect both, but you will just want to train the highs and the lows separately. Picking the one that's most problematic for him (let's say hi for example purposes), taking saliva samples from your son when you know his sugar is high, and when it's in normal range, and teaching pup to alert on the high sample but not on the normal sample for instance. Once pup has practiced enough with the high alert and will alert your son in every day life for that, you can teach a different alert for the low, (like pup pawing at him when it's high, vs. nosing him when it's low), and then take samples from when your son's sugar is low and normal, and teach pup to do the new alert for the low sample but to ignore the normal sample. Practice with the normal and low then until pup is reliable at alerting your son in real life for the lows. Finally, practice with all three samples, rewarding pup when they alert with the correct type of alert for the highs, the lows, and ignore the normal samples, practicing with each until pup can consistently alert for his sugar levels in real life. This process involves things like having pup sniff the samples and alert on those, having your son hold the samples and alert to those, hiding the samples in his pockets and having pup alert to those when he has been told to sniff there, hiding samples in pockets without telling pup to sniff or letting him see you hide them, then rewarding when pup alerts correctly to the surprise samples. Finally, those surprise times will need to be practiced around distractions, starting with low distractions like your yard, and working up to harder distractions, like parks with dogs, gradually as pup improves with practice. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden