Saturday, September 21, 2013

"Is your DAD a seeing eye dog?"

Yes. This question gets asked. By the public. 
(and there's no Ashton Kutcher around to scream "you just got PUNKED!")
In fact, I even have read from our friend Karen Holmes that after explaining her DAD was a DIABETIC ALERT DOG to a fellow bus rider, they exclaimed, "Oh, a diabetic seeing eye dog!" She politely shook her head in agreement but like me was probably thinking otherwise!
*SIGH*

In recent HEADLINER NEWS,a DAD owner/trainer was told by a McDonald's manager "We only allow seeing-eye dogs." go HERE for full story
WHAT IS ALL THE CONFUSION ABOUT?
The History behind "SEEING EYE" dogs...
"The first guide dog training schools were established in Germany during World War I, to enhance the mobility of returning veterans who were blinded in combat, but interest in guide dogs outside of Germany did not become widespread until Dorothy Harrison Eustis, an American dog breeder living in Switzerland, wrote a first-hand account about a guide dog training school in Potsdam, Germany, that was published in The Saturday Evening Post in 1927.

Nashville resident Morris Frank returned from Switzerland after being trained with one of Eustis's dogs, a female German shepherd named Buddy. Frank and Buddy embarked on a publicity tour to convince Americans of the abilities of guide dogs, and the need to allow people with guide dogs to access public transportation, hotels, and other areas open to the public. In 1929, Eustis and Frank co-founded The Seeing Eye in Nashville, Tennessee (relocated in 1931 to New Jersey)."
THANK YOU, WIKIPEDIA! 

The History behind "Diabetic Alert Dogs" dogs...
... Dogs have been used in the disability community since World War I (see above). We see them partnered with our police task forces, and for Search and Rescue situations (like 9/11).
SOME NATURALLY DRIVEN PET to a Type 1 diabetic, or some trainer, who connected the dots, began fine tuning the diabetic "scent" training with what has always existed; the ABILITY in the right service dog...
AND THAT IS AN EDUCATED GUESS, BECAUSE THIS ALL IS STILL SO NEW!

If the "public" knew the dangers and life threatening nature of type 1 diabetes, CANINE SUPPORT would make more sense to them.
Because trainers and the alike do not know the EXACT physiological evidence of WHAT the dogs are sensing/smelling, the mystery remains. But the proof is THEY ALERT TO IT. 
I find myself explaining it like this, "These dogs can smell the chemical change in my son's body when his blood sugar goes dangerously out of range."   (Hop on over to ---->What IS a DAD Smelling? -Research reveals...)
what do they need? "EDUCATION!"

who's gonna' give it? "WE ARE!"

I have a DIABETIC ALERT DOG. THANK YOU for asking.


2 comments:

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