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According to Texas State law, trainers have the same rights are users of Service Dogs

admit a trainer of service dogs accompanied by a dog for training purposes.

Office of the Governor Rick Perry: Committee on People with Disabilities – Service Dogs

Things are going well.  I have her in a crate at the gym, and today for the first 10 minutes left the cage door open.  She challenged that, so I closed it for the last 20 minutes so I could concentrate on training.

Friday is not the best day to go to American Girl, but I have been wanting to since they opened, so we did.  The girls there were great, the staff was good and we did our first escalator.  The rest of the mall was a mess, so we went to Valley View which is in such bad state financially they don’t care who is there as long as you spend money.  Unfortunately found nothing to buy.

So far, no access issues.

We started at the endo, and I have a form from him stating that I have hypo and hyper glycemic unawareness and that a diabetic alert dog would help.

We went to Home Depot.

Had a low tire alarm and ended up at Discount Tire.  Did mat work there.  That is a tough place, people coming from three doors, constantly.

Then the gym.  Definitely crate there so I can change and workout, so we need to train her to alert while crated.  I can see that in restaurants too, and at school.

Brief stop at home, then Union and Human Resources.

We both taking a break.

I have paper work now, stating that I am an insulin dependent diabetic with hypoglycemic and hyperglycemic unawareness and need the dog. signed by the endo.

She went to the doctors, an other Home Depot trip and now at Discount Tire which is letting us work on mat training.

We are trying the gym next.

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When I’m high.  I don’t think I’ve ever been treatable low around her, but I’ve been high twice around her lately.  It’s not that socially acceptable.  She climbs up on my lap and licks my face, probably to get the sugar from my sweat.

But it’s something to work with.

It also means we have something to train with.

So we’re all good, vest and cards are here.  Bringsel should be on its way.  My alert of choice would be her to grab the bringsel and bring it to me.  I would like her to do that anytime she thinks I should check my blood sugar, when the pump goes off, when I’m high or when I’m low.

I have been doing a lot of research.

I think the biggest problem is demand is vastly bigger than the supply.  I have found some great resources.

http://www.diabeticalertdog.com/index.php

There is a Dallas area trainer who is very helpful to me so far,and has some nice looking dogs but I haven’t met him personally:

http://brookslabradors.com/

So far, access hasn’t been an issue.

I’m doing really well since my last fill.  I go in on Thursday I think, need to double check the calendar.  Only problem is that I stay constipated so I’m not always sure how much weight I’ve lost.

The Aria scale shows I’ve lost six pounds this month.

First, how do you train it?

Of course, training any performance dog, be it an obedience dog or a narcotics detection dog, is an on going process.

Every situation is going to present a new challenge. 

Spoke with a director of student disabilities at a local university today and mentioned that the dog was self trained and an ongoing project.

Last night presented some real challenges that have really made me rethink things today. Do I want to fight the battles…   

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My A1C is the best it’s been in a while – 7.7

Last A1C was 9.4 and 8.9 before that, so I’m doing much better.