9178707077_27b02736cd_bThis may become part of a regular series in an effort to help you locate a great organization to get a diabetic alert dog from. First topic? How they raise their puppies. The first year of a dogs life is a very important time. Socialization, obedience training, maturity markers, vet …

no-secrets-signI have spent a good deal of time telling you what to look for in a good DAD organization or a dog trainer. Here are a few things that should be a red flag/warning that will hopefully make you think about when you go through this process.

1. You pay …

10496961_851824471512453_4865614828018179791_oRaven is our rock star night alerting dog. On most nights she wakes me up at least once to alert to an out of range blood sugar, and generally it will be a high. But last night was a little different.…

904122_600075823353987_450448929_oNight time alerting. Most often it is the number 1 reason someone cites for wanting a DAD. And it is often followed up with “and then we can sleep through the night” as if the dog will catch the low, go get a juice box, treat the low, and then …

6183190876_ba11dcc2bd_bOur family has spent 2 years now with a service dog. I’ve seen a lot, screwed up a lot, and learned a lot over those 2 years. (Major became ours on 10/1/11, there will be a post about that on that date). There are a tremendous amount of things that …

8200976371_5017cab6ef_bLet me preface all of this by saying that I am not a dog trainer or a breeder. I’m just a dad that decided that getting a service dog was important for our family. Since then, I have become more and more involved, met a lot of people, and learned …

Climbing up on soapbox. You say you want a service dog to help you out. They are great for that. You say you want one because you’d like to get some rest? Nope. Not gonna happen. As a matter of fact, if that is a big reason for you, I’m …

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Raven is super smart. She is also stubborn as hell. In a service dog, that is a line that needs to be straddled cautiously. She KNOWS it all. And she is super confidant. She is also a goof ball. And her spirit can’t be broken. Her tail never stops wagging. …

So as a photographer, you would think I would believe in the value of the tripod. Nope! To cumbersome and a pain to set up. So, instead, I give you these. More training videos of Astro using his nose, and as a bonus, a video of Major doing the same!…

I was given the wonderful opportunity to speak at the Wildrose DAD conference, as a family living with a DAD. I couldn’t get through the whole speech, and for that I apologize. These dogs, and the type 1 community mean so much to me, and I struggled reading it through …