Good evening, Nuts, I wanted to thank you for the information on diabetic alert dogs...I've passed it on to two friends. My hubby is also diabetic but we have two service dogs in training for hearing assist....I don't think we need more! Our's are "home schooled" but we'll be looking into certification real soon....in the next few months.

Bearbear is my alert dog for sirens when I am driving, and he alerts me to hubby's breathing problems, the oxygen machine shutting off at night, and any noise he thinks I should know about. I do occasionally sleep on my good ear and I am totally deaf in the other. Bearbear also lets me know about people coming up behind me and he'll give me the head's up when a waitress brings our food...just a gentle paw on my arm and he looks where he wants me to see. His sister is hubby's dog and she comes to me if he has a bad coughing problem, or he's not able to get to his inhalor...she's still learning but she's catching on. Bearbear is learning hand signals so I can correct him in public without being obvious and its also a good control method.

I'm also open for any suggestions on their continuing training. They both alert to the dryer going off, someone at the door, the oven timer, and Munchie is my "piddle-pad monitor"....soon as its used, she wants it cleaned up and will pester me till its done...she doesn't care what I am doing!