Diabetic Alert Dogs and Persons with Diabetes Mellitus It is always being said that dogs are man’s best friend. Not only can dogs be considered adorable and wonderful pets, they also have been proven to be remarkable service animals. According to the United States Service Dog Registry (2013), service dogs are dogs that are independently trained to accommodate for each individual’s specific disability. The most recent discovery of service dogs’ abilities are medical detection dogs. Medical detection dogs are dogs who are trained to detect certain medical conditions using their keen sense of smell. The medical detection dog has been proven to detect a variety of diseases, including diabetes mellitus (Knight, 2011). Diabetes Mellitus is a medical
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Before beginning the training, a dog must first be evaluated by a veterinarian to ensure the dog is healthy enough to perform the tasks DADs perform. After veterinarian clearance, the dog must undergo basic service animal training which includes obedience and public-access behaviors, and disability-related work and tasks. Obedience and public-access behaviors is a part of the training, because even though DADs are specific to person with diabetes, they are still considered service animals and must be obedient and display appropriate behaviors while in public. Disability-related work and tasks are considered tasks that relieve the persons’ disability by assisting with everyday tasks (Psychiatric Service Dog Partners, 2016). For a DAD this includes, retrieving glucose monitors, retrieving help to assist with the persons’ hypoglycemia/hyperglycemic episode, along with the owner’s everyday tasks. Alongside basic training DADs beginning learning to detect glucose levels. To do so, the dog must be able to pass the scent test. This test examines the ability of the dog to detect hypoglycemic/hyperglycemic levels specific to their owners’ smell of their saliva or skin. In order to pass and be considered a true DAD, dogs must pass this exam with a 90% accuracy on their owners’ glucose levels (Diabetic Alert Dog Alliance, 2016). Everyone is different, including the odors each person has. Because of this DADs must highly skilled dogs who are specially and individually trained to each owner they are given
Before beginning the training, a dog must first be evaluated by a veterinarian to ensure the dog is healthy enough to perform the tasks DADs perform. After veterinarian clearance, the dog must undergo basic service animal training which includes obedience and public-access behaviors, and disability-related work and tasks. Obedience and public-access behaviors is a part of the training, because even though DADs are specific to person with diabetes, they are still considered service animals and must be obedient and display appropriate behaviors while in public. Disability-related work and tasks are considered tasks that relieve the persons’ disability by assisting with everyday tasks (Psychiatric Service Dog Partners, 2016). For a DAD this includes, retrieving glucose monitors, retrieving help to assist with the persons’ hypoglycemia/hyperglycemic episode, along with the owner’s everyday tasks. Alongside basic training DADs beginning learning to detect glucose levels. To do so, the dog must be able to pass the scent test. This test examines the ability of the dog to detect hypoglycemic/hyperglycemic levels specific to their owners’ smell of their saliva or skin. In order to pass and be considered a true DAD, dogs must pass this exam with a 90% accuracy on their owners’ glucose levels (Diabetic Alert Dog Alliance, 2016). Everyone is different, including the odors each person has. Because of this DADs must highly skilled dogs who are specially and individually trained to each owner they are given