Diabetic Alert Dogs Organization...Pretty Wrapping Open and Revealed

After scary lows in the middle of the night and the candle that often gets passed around on FB so heart wrenching to the D world another D child passed. I was determined to get a Diabetic Alert Dog in my home. I have two children with type 1 diabetes and had enough close calls and scares it was time for help...another tool to manage and keep my children safe a four legged friend could it be a G-d send?! Those night lows are one of the greatest scares because one can slip into Diabetic coma so quickly without any warning...slip right into diabetic coma while we all are sleeping. I needed some since of security for my children some life saving help and support. So the venture began.... I saw that a well advertised organization had diabetic alert dogs that seemed to be changing and well, saving lives. An organization that said they truly cared and wanted to help. Though in order to get a D.A.D. one would have to pay up to $20,000!!! It seemed untouchable at first then you learned that you can do fund raising and that they would help, that us low income people was no problem. We could easily reach the money needed. I started seeing a few other organization and looked into it a bit. Talked with people who had a D.A.D or was getting one. The well advertised organization was wrapped in such pretty paper with a gorgeous bow with all there advertisements and talk of how great their D.A.D.'s were how they saved lives. I talked with the head guy and decided the pretty packaged (the one with all the promises that was getting heard in the media) organization I would go with. I did hear a little talk of self training but people said that wasn't doable. I believed there was no way I could do it myself and heard so little of people doing it themselves, not a lot of advertisements. So the fund-raising began....all I needed was $1,000 to secure a D.A.D. My Uncle graciously donated enough to secure that pup. He knew what it meant to me and was willing and able to help out in such a gracious way. I will always be so grateful for his help. Unfortunately though my great expectations of a better future with a " organization" D.A.D. to keep my guys safe would take a drastic turn. The beautiful package would eventually be opened to reveal what this organization was really made of. Now that we were getting a D.A.D. a name was picked...Shiloh would be his name...a name that represented peace. Peace is what was coming with this four legged friend, peace through the night...a life savour,a guardian angel. A D.A.D was delivered sooner than I expected unlike some of the others. I also raised funds much slower than many of the others. But the arrival day had come....and from that day on it was as if they were looking for a reason to take our D.A.D. back. Though it wasn't until 6 months later that they did just that. During that time I learned this contract meant they still owned Shiloh and not only Shiloh but us too. Lots of details in the contract that you must meet and follow. Specific dog food, how many times taken out, extra dog training outside of theirs to "socialize" them the list goes on... Very little wiggle room where one could say oh your not doing enough. Not only was I doing everything I could to meet the needs of my family but I too now had to meet their contract needs and was doing everything I could to do that No longer was the D.A.D. that we held so deer who was to be our guardian angel at our service but we were at the organizations service. After having Shiloh for 6 months they decided to take her back. I won't go into that horrible day now...Except to say that one good thing is that I was released from being owned by them and a new journey began G-d can bring good out of every situation and we can learn from it all. If I didn't go through the experiences I went through I would never have learned about self training with the perspective that I have now. Yes self training I found that you CAN do it. There are many doing it themselves (though with some help) without putting $20,000 to it and ARE getting just as good of results!! So now I went the not so pretty package route. NOT always is it the packages with all the pretty paper the ones with the better gift but this time it was the unattractive wrapping I decided to go with a torn up package, no bow, a package that went through the wringer if you will....self training and a dog shelter is where I headed this time around. So many dogs already need a home so many dogs lives are being taken away. So many dogs that have so much potential if someone would just give them a chance. So off I went got my son a dog from the shelter. When I took him home and this package was revealed I am so AMAZED how attentive he is to my 4 year old diabetic son...To G-d be the glory!!! This package doesn't have a prong collar around my own neck telling me where to go and what to do. I have a say...if I want him to just to alert me at home I can or if I want him to go places with us we can. I get to choose what food he eats, I can choose from many different trainers ideas and not have to follow just one perspective. If I don't agree with one of the training methods I don't have to do it. After my experience I know that by "self training" I don't have to work any harder than I did with an organization. Much work of training had to be done by me personally just like I will now. The beauty that is inside this package is I have more choices I am released from the prong and now I can run free to meet what my individual sons needs are and allow G-d to move in our lives all the more... I can serve G-d and NOT man. There is more room for growth for me and my sons D.A.D in training...and for a potentially life savour we too can return the favour by potentially saving his life because we took him out of a shelter. I hope you will continue to follow our journey and hopefully learn and grow with us through the ups and the downs. "Self Training" and shelter dogs what a wonderful gift!! Although Shiloh is a wonderful D.A.D. (apart from the organization)I have found that not all pretty wrapped packages come with the greatest gift. We love an miss Shiloh and if I think of her to much tears will follow so I choose not to. We don't have another Shiloh but we do have another D.A.D. in training to help keep my boys safe. I miss Shiloh and so does my 4 year old but I do NOT miss that organization!!

Diabetic Alert Dog to Be

We are at the beginning stages of training my sons dog that we got from the shelter to be a diabetic alert dog. He is already such a loyal dog to my 4 year old and attentive to him. And now the first great catch...In the middle of the night Frosty alerted me. I woke up to a little dog standing on my chest and starring at me. So I then checked my four year old BG. It was 76. Great catch Frosty!! Since we are in our very beginning stages of scent training I am not sure he was alerting me though that was great timing!! I snacked my son, treated Frosty and we all went back to sleep. G-d always provides...G-d is good!!!!