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Would you ever consider getting a diabetic alert dog? Tell us why or why not in the comments!
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I tried diligently to find a diabetic alert dog after being told I had low sensitivity to low glucose – by the time I catch on to it it’s almost too late. However, I was denied because my highs and lows were too unpredictable and would be hard on the dog. Gee…
I have been type 1 since 1982. I have had many dogs the ones I have been closest too, including my current 7 month old puppy, have seemed to want to get my attention sometimes to an annoying point when my BG is low. I didn’t realize till a couple years ago that dogs can smell your body chemistry.
I would love to have one. I grew up with dogs, and had responsibility for taking care of them. As an adult, I absolutely want to get a dog, and I would be so happy to have a diabetes alert dog, because wow—talk about a quality of life improvement! However, the cost is prohibitive. $10k is out of reach for all but the most financially secure diabetics. I say this as a professional with a good career.
I wanted to get one when I was single because of night time lows and hypoglycemic unawareness, but it cost to much. Now I have a CGM and do not need one.
I have had many dogs over my lifetime that basically trained themselves to seek help when I needed it but mostly they could smell when I was low or high and let me know I needed to test or they would hassle me if they thought I needed to get help. Dogs are super smart and hounds have great noses so when I was diagnosed at age 10 before we had any blood testing equipment other than Testape or Clinitest and test tubes for testing urine, my Dad’s hunting dogs, Beagles, and Basset Hounds slept with me in my room and would get help if I was too low in the middle of the night. But this was in the 1960s. I have always had rescue dogs which I trained or who trained themselves. They have been super helpful and I have been very lucky since my 2 kids and my husband have helped me numerous times when my dogs have alerted them. Unfortunately, there are ridiculous rules now from the Diabetes training Centers that don’t allow you to have more than one dog in the house at a time. My dogs have saved my life more than once over the years and we have a real difference of opinion with regard to training. I have had to train my dogs myself because of this.