Anyone know about training to alert using scent samples?
diabetic service dog. I do not have a dog suitable for this yet and have held off on
getting one until I learn more about service dogs and hypoglycemic
alert training(I have had many dogs in the past, am getting certified as
an ABC dog trainer and am foster training a service dog puppy not for
hypoglycemic alert though). It seems that there are only a few places
in the country that train diabetic alert dogs and for one reason or
another they aren't willing to discuss their training methods. I am
not sure if I haven't looked hard enough but so far finding anything
related to hypo alert training seems more difficult than obtaining
the blueprints for the Iranian nuclear program lol.
While there are many people online who have obtained a service dog
from organizations like dogs for diabetics and heaven scent paws they
are unable or unwilling to discuss training methods. Heaven
Scent paws used to sell an at home kit for training a diabetic
service dog but when I went to look for it I noticed it was removed from
their site.I emailed and they said it was removed due to abuses of
the program.I realize that service dog training is difficult and you
can't just put a cape on a dog and call him a service dog. Plus any
dog that wears a service dog cape is a representative for all service
dogs so if your dog isn't properly trained and socialized if he is
disruptive out in public that tarnishes the image of all service dogs. So I understand their decision to discontinue their train at home kit because they don't want people going out in public with their untrained "pet" in service dog attire and screwing it up for the legitimate service dog owners. BUT It still leaves me SOL in my search to find out more information about this.
I saw a video on youtube about the non profit org dogs for diabetics,
they showed dogs being "bucket trained" to detect some type of low
blood sugar scent.I assume it was sweat samples taken from people
during low blood sugar episodes? Does anybody have any information
about scent training and getting a dog to alert to low blood sugars using scent samples or even a hypoglycemic person? or know of a link or forum where hypo alert training methods are discussed. Does one exist? Maybe I have not looked well enough?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance
John
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by kate on
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Thanks for the info it's awesome!! I just started training my 2 German Shepherds today, they are 3yrs old brother & sister and very smart. The female, Macey caught on right away with the trick and word and got it every time, the male, Myles got it adout 90% of the time.
My queation for you is, how many times a day did you practice each step with your dog so they had the lows in a month. I read on some sites, one said 2 hours a day and another said 5 hours a day, what worked best for you? I'm really excited to see if I can get them trained to alert me to the change in my BS. -
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Permalink Reply by missrobbie on -
I keep hearing dog trainer use the “bucket training" method to train dogs for diabetic alert dog training but I've also read your breath will smell like cotton candy, juicy fruit/tutty fruity gum when high and rusty water, acetone or nail polish remover if low.
****Tip I found on dogster message board about" do your own scent dog training" ****** Use this tip with caution
Blogger said:
"First, keep a log of your highs and lows and your dog's behavior to see if she is alerting or not.
Since you've got something that is detectable by scent, I'd recommend using traditional scenting techniques to train this. If you've not done any scent work before, start out with easier scent work to lay the foundation. There is a book I think it is called "fun nosework for dogs "or something like that which my trainer uses when she teaches tracking class.
Then once your dog has the hang of scent work, when you are having a high or low (pick one to start with) swipe yourself with a hankie or suck on a hankie and put it in a ziptop baggie. Do the same when you are well. The ziptop baggie will keep the scent in. Then when you have several of these, use the scenting training techniques you've learned to teach her the difference between these baggies. Teach her to paw you or do something like that when she smells the baggie from when you were having a high or low. Then after you've got that trained, add in the other one (high or low).
The idea is hopefully it will carry over to your dog being able to detect the scent changes on your skin or breath and alert you."
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