I wrote a guest post about diabetic alert dogs for the Canine Heroes Blog Tour, and thought I’d share it with y’all too! I hope you learn something new about these incredible hero dogs!
(Thanks so much to Hannah for hosting this awesome tour!)
Something you might not know about me: I have type 1 diabetes.
So this is a subject that means a lot to me. 🙂
Another thing you might not know about me: I trained a diabetic alert dog (DAD) for a year, and now I’m starting to train our family dog Jack to alert and help me manage my T1D.
And you’ll get to hear more about that in the post…
Welcome to our last post in the Canine Heroes Blog Tour! (Except for a wrap-up post tomorrow.) I am so excited to share this guest post from Pearl Willis. Thank you, Pearl, for sharing your story and for your dedication to service dog work!
A mother tosses in her bed, exhausted yet alert. In the other room, her four-year-old is sleeping heavily after a long day of play. His blood sugar is steadily dropping but he doesn’t feel it, he won’t wake up. Unable to fall asleep, his mother anxiously tiptoes in to test his blood. This is her life; constantly watching her son for low blood sugar symptoms, dosing with insulin, dealing with tricky sick-days. This is the life of a type 1 diabetic and those who love him.
What is type 1 diabetes?
I’ve had type 1 diabetes for nearly 5 years of my life. And it’s been hard. (As I write this, it’s a unhealthily-late hour and I’m munching on sugar snacks to raise my low blood sugar!) 5 million Americans are living with type 1 diabetes. If you don’t already know, let me explain T1D a bit…
This is so amazing! Dogs are incredible. I have T1D as well, I was diagnosed about five years ago. It’s a struggle sometimes, but I’ve learned so much through it. Keep going and love life! 🙂
Thanks, Kinsey! ❤ Love this comment. Oh wow, you’ve had T1D for 5 years too? I feel like we should have an anniversary celebration or something… maybe a BIG cake. ✌😁
I wouldn’t wish T1D on anyone, but yeah, I’ve learned a lot. It has also been a big empathy-fueling experience for sure!🙂
Consistent posting? What’s that?
But on a more serious note, my troop sold candles to help a lady fund her special heart problems doggo. That doggo came to visit, and he was DEVOTED. When some girls went to pet him, he looked up at her, waiting until she nodded before he would accept the pets. These doggies are amazing!
This is awesome! My younger sister has had T1D for 12 years — she was diagnosed when she was 5. But I’ve only recently been hearing about DAD’s — and I definitely didn’t know you could train them yourself! Can you share more info about that? I couldn’t seem to find the info on the page you linked to =P (you can email me if that would be easier :D)
Yikes that’s tough. I can’t imagine having been diagnosed that young — your sister is awesome!
Sure thing, Kaitlyn! If you shoot me an email through our contact form, I can forward you the resources I’ve found. 😃 Training a DAD yourself is definitely an option. It’s mountains of work but so much cheaper than purchasing one!
This is so amazing! Dogs are incredible. I have T1D as well, I was diagnosed about five years ago. It’s a struggle sometimes, but I’ve learned so much through it. Keep going and love life! 🙂
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Thanks, Kinsey! ❤ Love this comment. Oh wow, you’ve had T1D for 5 years too? I feel like we should have an anniversary celebration or something… maybe a BIG cake. ✌😁
I wouldn’t wish T1D on anyone, but yeah, I’ve learned a lot. It has also been a big empathy-fueling experience for sure!🙂
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Amen to all XD
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Consistent posting? What’s that?
But on a more serious note, my troop sold candles to help a lady fund her special heart problems doggo. That doggo came to visit, and he was DEVOTED. When some girls went to pet him, he looked up at her, waiting until she nodded before he would accept the pets. These doggies are amazing!
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I’m really not sure, hehehe 😂
Wow! that’s super neat you did that!! He sounds like a special service doggo! 😍
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He was a sweetie…
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This is awesome! My younger sister has had T1D for 12 years — she was diagnosed when she was 5. But I’ve only recently been hearing about DAD’s — and I definitely didn’t know you could train them yourself! Can you share more info about that? I couldn’t seem to find the info on the page you linked to =P (you can email me if that would be easier :D)
I need to go and catch up on all these posts 😀
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Yikes that’s tough. I can’t imagine having been diagnosed that young — your sister is awesome!
Sure thing, Kaitlyn! If you shoot me an email through our contact form, I can forward you the resources I’ve found. 😃 Training a DAD yourself is definitely an option. It’s mountains of work but so much cheaper than purchasing one!
cool, have fun 😁👍
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