So far, I have taught her to sit, down and nudge. The nudge will become her alert action for low or high blood glucose levels. I let her have a sniff of a low saliva sample the other day. She knew it was something interesting and sniffed it for a long time. One day she will know it means danger.
We just get so much entertainment value from her antics. I will train her some more behaviours this week for the low and high signals. She also starts puppy preschool next month, and maybe some obedience and agility classes after that. Border Collies need to keep their minds and bodies active!
Am I allowed to nag for a video? GIF? I suspect her puppy antics caught on video will make everybody smile. ^^
ReplyDeleteHappy training Maya!
ReplyDeleteCute photos! Your son and Maya are good friends!
ReplyDeleteakiko
I'm enjoying your pics of little Maya; maybe someday we'll get a dog to train for our two T1 boys.
ReplyDelete(Not sure if my other comment got saved) Thanks for posting these pics of Maya; maybe someday I'll train a dog for our two T1 boys. I look forward to more updates and pics!
ReplyDeleteOh--also, does your son sense lows? Does he have a CGM? My son senses lows & wears a pump but doesn't want a CGM at this point. I'm thinking a diabetic alert dog would be helpful...will your son bring Maya to school or sporting events? Sorry--so many questions! :)
ReplyDeleteHi Paso parent. Yes, my son senses lows, but he doesn't have many due to eating low carb. He doesn't have a cgm as he did not want another device attached to him. But as his blood glucose levels are very good, I don't think it would be of any benefit anyway. His last HbA1c was 5.6. I am just starting scent training with our dog now. She is 11 weeks old. I have trained her the alert behavior so far, so need to associate this with the low and high scent. I have to be careful, as Maya thinks the alert behavior is what to do to get food rewards, so have to change her way of thinking now. If my son has a high or low, I get him to spit on a cotton pad and put it in a zip lock plastic bag and then in a plastic container which is then frozen. I will thaw the pads for the scent training. I don't think my son will take her to school. I am training her as a back up to his blood testing. It's mainly at night or if I allow him to stay at home alone for a bit that I would like the extra security.
ReplyDeleteSooo cute! You are lucky having Maya, and she's lucky having a good owner. Cheers!
ReplyDeleteJust for additional info. Training would be easy to handle if you already established your role as a leader. Based on experience as a trainer, everything goes absolutely smooooooth afterwards. :D
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