Service Dog Learns How to Respond to Owner’s Blood Sugar Levels
A service canine can present help for folks with many alternative circumstances, equivalent to diabetes. For Sam, having a diabetic alert canine completely modified her life. It’s introduced her peace of thoughts and safety figuring out that her canine Korey is watching out for her.
“He is my service dog for Type 1 diabetes, so Korey can smell when my blood sugar goes high or low, and he’ll alert me so I can have better control of my diabetes.”
A service canine educated to detect blood sugar can alert its proprietor in varied methods. Korey was educated to “boop” Sam repeatedly to warn her of both excessive or low blood sugar. For Sam, he’s been a life-saver in addition to a cuddly companion to have round.
Sam says this:
“I got Korey two years ago from a breeder here in Germany where I live right now. Korey is a purebred Labrador Retriever. He comes from what they call the working line of Labradors, so they are a bit thinner, a bit more athletic looking, a bit smaller than what you usually think of when you think of a Lab.”
Sam’s had a lifelong battle with type one diabetes. She received this diagnosis at just four years old but had a much harder time managing it in her early 20s. At that point, she only noticed a problem when her blood sugar got dangerously low or high.
So, she decided to get help to better manage her condition. She got her first CGM (continuous glucose monitor), which alerts you when your blood sugar reaches a certain level. However, her CGM didn’t always work correctly, and she and her boyfriend often didn’t hear the alerts at night.
In fact, on several occasions, her boyfriend Michael couldn’t wake her up because her blood sugar had gotten too low. Fortunately, each time he was able to get enough sugar into her bloodstream for her to regain consciousness.
After several of these scares, they decided to get a service dog
After speaking with her endocrinologist, Sam and her boyfriend made the decision to get a diabetic alert dog (DAD). They got Korey in July 2019 when he was just two months old. However, they’d been getting to know him since he was born.
They were lucky enough to find a breeder who specialized in breeding “work” Labrador Retrievers. The breeder assured her that the dogs had a history of good scent training and would make wonderful DADs.
Sam and Michael also enlisted the help of a professional trainer who specialized in service dog and DAD training. They began working with her in August 2019, just a month after adopting Korey. The training program takes 1.5-2 years, although the pandemic has pushed things back a bit. However, they’ve made great progress thus far, and Korey’s set to graduate the program by the end of 2021!
“He alerts me to my blood sugar changes, he wakes me up in the middle of the night, which is most important for me, and that’s how he helps me. I am so eternally grateful for him. I love him so much,” Sam says lovingly of Korey.
Korey even inspired Sam to become a dog trainer herself!
Sam has been a dog lover her whole life and has owned dogs from a young age. Since she had so much success training Korey, she decided to take the plunge and get her dog training license. She says on her website that turning into a canine coach is certainly one of her proudest accomplishments.
She now provides inexpensive canine coaching applications on-line to assist folks practice diabetic alert canine. Pre-trained canine could be very costly, so the one possibility for many individuals is to practice their canine themselves.
Korey’s joyful that she will be able to contribute to the kind one group along with her on-line coaching applications. She is aware of firsthand how tough managing the illness is, so she wished to make others’ lives a bit simpler. Sam provides a number of applications, from fundamental consultations and coaching to the extra particular diabetic alert canine coaching.
Other optimistic contributions Korey makes in Sam’s life
“He makes me laugh and smile every day. He is just a very silly dog; he’s got a very goofy personality like most Labs, and really, he saves my life,” Sam says.
“Because he is my service dog, Korey comes with me more or less everywhere. So, we’re always together. He comes to work with me; I’m a kindergarten teacher and the kids love him. He loves being at school.”
When Korey’s not at work along with her, they’re normally cuddling on the sofa or going for walks. Korey additionally appears to love journeys to the ironmongery shop, for some unusual cause. It’s his favourite place, in reality! He additionally loves touring and exploring new locations with the couple.
“His favorite activity is playing fetch, for sure, going on “walkies,” and consuming. He loves meals – he’s obsessive about cheese – and he does love to sleep too. He’s undoubtedly a snuggly, snuggly canine,” Sam says.
She couldn’t think about life with out Korey now. Not solely does he assist her handle a life-threatening situation, he provides her unconditional love and assist.
“I think the most rewarding thing about being a dog owner is just that they bring so much joy to your life. They bring so much happiness, excitement, so much friendship. He’s really just the best.”
Her recommendation for anybody wanting to get a service canine or pet generally:
“I would definitely recommend that you prepare yourself before you get any kind of pet so that you know how to take care of their basic needs. Definitely do some research, but it’s so worth it; I mean, they enrich our lives so much.”
Final ideas on the service canine that helps one girl handle Type 1 diabetes
Service canine could be educated to do all kinds of issues, equivalent to alerting somebody to low blood sugar. For Sam, her service canine Korey has made her life a lot simpler and rewarding as effectively. He’s at all times by her facet to let her know when her blood sugar is getting dangerously excessive or low. He goes just about in every single place along with her, and he’s an incredible addition to her life.
