Medical Aid Dogs(If you have a dog or work with dogs or anything please come check this out.)

[LadyBug]

HI! thanks for checking this out, this means so much to me! ok, so y'all know how there are seeing dogs for the blind and such? well so dogs have been trained to alert you when your blood sugars going low. i'm a type 1 diabetic, as i think most of you know, so i'm very interested in getting a puppy and trying to train it to alert. there's places that do it for you, but they cost an arm and a leg, so i'm(and mom)putting in the time to research this and try to do it ourselves. one of the places is www.heavenscentpaws.com if you guys want to check it out they'll be able to explain how the dogs alert, ect much better than i can. so what i'm asking for from you guys is anything you might know that could help me/us with this.ok, so here are my most burning questions-

what breed of dog would work the best?(we're looking for a VERY obedient dog with a good sense of smell)big dogs are out(golden retrievers and up)and so are super small dogs(Pomeranian, ect.). some of you know our cat Pickles is double coated, and mom doesn't want another double coated animal, so double coated dogs wouldn't work ether!when we where looking into this last fall we were leaning towards the Cavalier Kings Charles Spaniel, just FYI.

is sorta falls under the above question, but.............

with the above requirements in mind, what dogs have the best sense of smell? (that's how they know you're going down, they smell it)

and lastly, does anybody one here work with training service dogs/have a friend and/or relative that does? that would be wonderfulinkbouce:!

thanks in advance for all the help!

Anna(and my mom)

oh, one more thing. does any body know anything about this breeder- http://www.coosacreekcavaliers.com ? thanks again!

 

[Leaf]

I still think you could try to contact the Delta Society or Dogs for the Deaf. Both organizations place appropriately trained animals in homes at little (but usually NO cost) at all. DFD works with dogs of all skills, not just alert dogs. The Delta Society works with dogs of all training aspects.

You may not end up with a CKCS, but a match can be found -- at far less than the breeders price (for the pup alone) of $1,600. It is good, all the testing that breeder does, but keep in mind it's for a reason - all breeds have their weaknesses, and the Cavalier is by far no exception.

 

[LadyBug]

it's not that we have to have everything be purebred(both of our cats are mixes, one from the shelter), but in this case it would/will be easier to know exactly what we'd be/are getting. emotional problems aren't what we need. what we need is a calm, well adjusted, obedient, trainable dog to fulfill a need. we need to know exactly what we're getting as far as size and temperament go. getting a dog that has but isn't showing terrier ancestry would be a disaster as far as training goes. i found a web site(http://www.childrenwithdiabetes.com) that has a forum, and quite a few of the people on there appear to have trained alert dogs, so finding that was/is a HUGE blessing for me/us. i'll keep y'all up-dated!

Annainkbouce: