Training Your Diabetic Alert Dog - Paperback

by Sue Barns (Author), Rita Martinez Cpdt-K (Author)

The Scent of Safety You can harness dogs' amazing sense of smell to manage your diabetes. Many dogs can perform this life-saving task, but they must be trained if you are to produce a reliable diabetic alert service dog (DAD). The authors bring to this book extensive experience in training for diabetic alert and assistance dog work in particular, and over half a century of training dogs for search & rescue, obedience, and therapy in general. They will guide you through this process step by step. This book helps diabetics train their own dog with the help of a professional trainer, and explains how to: o Select a great dog for alert work o Find and work with a qualified trainer o Understand how dogs detect changes in diabetic blood sugar levels o Train alerts and low/high blood sugar signals o Teach your dog to alert at night and in the car o Train other helpful skills such as Go for Help, trailing the diabetic, and retrieving useful items (glucometer, juice box, etc.) o Troubleshoot training difficulties o Locate additional resources on training and assistance dogs And when you are done, you will experience the freedom that comes from knowing a canine friend is looking out for you.

Author Biography

Rita Martinez, CPDT-KA Over 30 years' experience training dogs in obedience, hunting, search and rescue (tracking, air scent, human remains and water), Co-founder of two non-profit organizations involving specialized human remains detection dogs, Trainer/Owner of Clickin' Canines, LLC. The business works with dog/handler teams incorporating hearing, assistance and medical alert dogs, Frequent speaker with trainer groups and other service dog organizations wishing to become proficient with the training of diabetic alert dogs for placement. Sue Barns, Ph.D. Service dog trainer for Assistance Dogs of the West (Santa Fe, NM), Diabetic Alert Dog program founder, Over 20 years' experience training dogs for search and rescue (tracking, air scent and human remains), obedience, hunting, therapy, and assistance work. Training Director for obedience, hunting retriever, and search and rescue groups Instructor for public dog training classes, search and rescue seminars and assistance dog training classes for students and clients, Research scientist and assistant professor (Biology; retired).