When a family member has diabetes, it feels like you can never stop thinking about them. You are not alone. Most families worry that their diabetic will be unable to lead an independent life. A properly trained Diabetic Alert Dog allows families to relax a little more each day as it grows to know your diabetic’s signs and smells; granting greater freedom and allowing them to lead a fulfilling life.

Diabetic Alert Dog Training Services

Alert Service Dogs trains medial alert dogs for children and adults who are insulin-dependent Type 1 Diabetics. These dogs for diabetics are trained to utilize their naturally superior sense of smell to react to drops and increases in insulin levels in real time. When a diabetic experiences a high or low, the body releases chemicals that change the scent of secretions and liquids it produces. Though these are unnoticeable to the human nose, service dogs have little difficulty. What the right dog lacks is an advanced level of training.

Properly trained scent dogs have been shown to have 85-90% accuracy in the environments for which they are trained. For diabetes alert dogs these environments include at home, in public, and nighttime alerting. Each dog is unique and may have different strengths and weaknesses. ASD evaluates the dog to ensure it has the right temperament to be a reliable scent dog and helps the owner to grow together with the dog.

Alert Service Dogs

Not every dog has the personality to become a service dog with 90% alert response and accuracy to match. Our dogs for diabetics are hand picked by Chief Trainer, Julie Noyes, an evaluator, mentor, and adjunct instructor listed with FEMA. Julie has over a decade of experience training professional alert dogs and service dogs with a history of success. She has all of the skills and dedication necessary, with the credentials to match, to provide a Diabetic Alert Dog.

Fully trained, medical alert dogs do require almost daily training reinforcement and practice in the form of games from their families and directly from those they assist. Subsequently, a large part of ASD’s interaction with clients is helping to develop a routine in their home and daily lives without adding unnecessary stress. Our Family Coordinators will help teach you to keep your service dog’s skills finely tuned.