DAD outside shelter
"DAD" stands for Diabetes assistance dog. And this beautiful Lab could be Stella's. She is a pound rescue, and our trainer adopted her yesterday.
Most assistance dogs are gotten from breeders, to assure that the dog is well bred, and has no health problems. But our family absolutely believes in rescuing animals, and that pound puppies make excellent pets. We searched specifically for a dog trainer that would be willing to find and train a shelter dog, or else we really wouldn't be going through this process, as it's that important to us. This will be our trainers first time specifically using a shelter dog, and she is excited. Our trainer has been training DAD's for several years, works for Animal Control in Riverside county, and is a member (with her own dog) of a search and rescue team, works very closely with local area shelters in getting animals adopted, and so we think we found someone absolutely up for this challenge. She has been scouring shelters recently, looking for an appropriate candidate. She has some specific rerquirements, and things she specifically looks for when choosing a dog, and this girl passed the initial tests.
She will be spayed today, and then will have a month of recovery before beginning the training to become a DAD. She will have a thorough eye and hip exami to make sure there should be no issues. And the training involved will take between 1-2 years. We plan on blogging the whole process for my wife's company, adoptapet.com which provides links and searches to people looking for animals in shelters across the US. We will be blogging the process to show the world that pound puppies are amazing choices, and make great pets for people looking for animals.
DAD's are trained to smell and recognize both high and low blood sugar in diabetes patients. They are often aware of rapid declines in BS levels before the meters detect the rapid swings. This dog will be a certified assistance dog, and be able to go everywhere with my daughter, like the store, Disneyland, and airplanes. All that from a pound puppy!
We are so excited to get started, and I can't wait to get Stella involved in the process! I'm not neccessarily looking forward to having 4 dogs in the house...
DAD outside shelter
"DAD" stands for Diabetes assistance dog. And this beautiful Lab could be Stella's. She is a pound rescue, and our trainer adopted her yesterday.
Most assistance dogs are gotten from breeders, to assure that the dog is well bred, and has no health problems. But our family absolutely believes in rescuing animals, and that pound puppies make excellent pets. We searched specifically for a dog trainer that would be willing to find and train a shelter dog, or else we really wouldn't be going through this process, as it's that important to us. This will be our trainers first time specifically using a shelter dog, and she is excited. Our trainer has been training DAD's for several years, works for Animal Control in Riverside county, and is a member (with her own dog) of a search and rescue team, works very closely with local area shelters in getting animals adopted, and so we think we found someone absolutely up for this challenge. She has been scouring shelters recently, looking for an appropriate candidate. She has some specific rerquirements, and things she specifically looks for when choosing a dog, and this girl passed the initial tests.
She will be spayed today, and then will have a month of recovery before beginning the training to become a DAD. She will have a thorough eye and hip exami to make sure there should be no issues. And the training involved will take between 1-2 years. We plan on blogging the whole process for my wife's company, adoptapet.com which provides links and searches to people looking for animals in shelters across the US. We will be blogging the process to show the world that pound puppies are amazing choices, and make great pets for people looking for animals.
DAD's are trained to smell and recognize both high and low blood sugar in diabetes patients. They are often aware of rapid declines in BS levels before the meters detect the rapid swings. This dog will be a certified assistance dog, and be able to go everywhere with my daughter, like the store, Disneyland, and airplanes. All that from a pound puppy!
We are so excited to get started, and I can't wait to get Stella involved in the process! I'm not neccessarily looking forward to having 4 dogs in the house...