42. Training One and Two Way Hearing, Diabetic and Alzheimer Alerts

One and Two Way Alerts can be used to train assistance dogs for people who are deaf or hard of hearing, diabetics (high or low blood sugar levels) and to alert a Alzheimer caregiver of movement by their patient. All these are taught using the same basic process.

It is very important before and during the training process to avoid saying “no” or otherwise discourage an alerting behavior in any context. You can ignore uncued behaviors such as a nose nudge for attention (especially if given when not during training sessions) so the dog will stop doing the behavior but do not punish or verbally scold the dog for doing it. Punishing or otherwise discouraging alerting behavior may affect your dog’s willingness to do that behavioral alert in the future.

Tips:
A. Use this Basic Process to Train your Dog to Alert to Any Sound.
For the actual alert, you can use a firm nose nudge, chin rest on hand or lap, pawing your arm, laying on your feet, face licking, jumping in front of you, jumping in your lap etc. Before training, choose whichever behavior is appropriate for the level of alert required for your dog to get your attention. Avoid using barking as an alert as it is disruptive when in public. The only time you might use a bark alert is when the dog needs to get you help from strangers during an emergency.

B. Having a helper (for at least the middle part of the training process) to make the sound or set off a gadget from other locations makes your job much easier and is clearer for the dog.

C. Choose Your First Sound Carefully.
If this is your first time training this behavior, it is a good idea to train a sound that is not likely to be heard in your environment (home, work or play). This way, you can use it to learn to train a basic alert and can learn from your mistakes before training more important alerts.

Ensure the gadget you choose:
-Is one that you can turn on and off quickly and easily with no fumbling
-The gadget making the sound will not wear out before you are done training
-The gadget can be set to go off at whim and in one minute (or less) intervals

Probably the easiest sound to start on is a knock (on the door) that needs no equipment.

When choosing a gadget that makes a sound, choose a sturdy one with big buttons. The first alarm clock I used was a small travel alarm and it was difficult to set and wind quickly and wore out after just three training sessions. I then tried to use sounds from the a computer but that was awkward, didn’t allow me to set them off as quickly as I needed to keep my dog’s interest at first and I wasn’t able to move the computer around to generalize the sound to different locations/rooms. I also tried a digital alarm but that combined the drone alarm with the radio noise and this was not a pure enough sound for my dog to understand what I wanted.

From a second hand store, I bought an old sturdy wind up alarm clock and that saw us through training the first 1 and 2 way sound alerts. This worked well enough when I was first training one way alerts and when I had a helper for distance and two way alerts. It worked well enough to train my dog when I was training alone from other rooms but it took a minimum of 10 minutes to go off after being set.

Ideally, sound alarms should be ones that can also be set to go off within a minute of setting it and more as your dog progresses in training.

It really helps your dog get the idea if the rate of repetitions is high for the first few training sessions until your dog understands what to do for the basic behavior. Once your dog understands the behavior, then you can use other new sounds that are harder to replicate.

Se also posts 42A, 42B and 42C.

23. Self-Taught Dog Alerts Diabetic of Low Blood Sugar

Today while visiting a shop, I happened to mention to the proprietor that I help people to train their own service dogs. She told me that her dog is a self-trained diabetic alert dog.

This woman works alone and her store is often very quiet. Occassionally her blood sugars drop (she has type 1 diabetes, diabetes mellitis) and she starts getting groggy at the counter. Her dog noses her arm to shake her up abit and at this point, the woman knows she needs to get some food into her quickly. If she goes past this point, as has happened on a couple of occasions, the dog noses her upright and when getting her up doesn't work, leaves the store to go get help.

The dog goes to a nearby store, gets someone to let her in, stops at then entrance and walk in circles to get attention of the employees. Then she walks around the room. If no-one pays attention, she repeats the behavior starting at the door, then someone has always noticed and she leads them back to the woman who needs help.

Just goes to show the significant impact that a service dog can have on someone's life, even if they are not certified! This dog looks and acts just like the dog next door. You'd never know of her special gift!

Have you heard of other stories of other dogs like this? We'd be interested to hear from you!