Radar’s Alert

Monday was a rough day!  It started off harmless enough.  I went and did a therapy dog visit at Aspen Ridge Rehab Hospital. Then I went and ate lunch with a friend.

Then my blood glucose decided to go awry. For 6 hours I was all over the map. Up and down…it was like roller coaster ride that I couldn’t get off of.  To be honest, I don’t remember much of the evening.  Lows are like wading in mud up to your waist.  You try to push on through to get to the other side but sometimes it is easier to just sit and sink!  I know that both Bravo and Radar had a busy evening.  If I am home Radar generally alerts first.  I think that it is because he is most often laying on my lap or on the arm of chair, while Bravo is on floor at feet or laying on the couch. (Yes my dogs are allowed on the furniture….so if you don't like dog hair it probably isn't a good idea to come to my house.) 

Because Radar is sort of new to all this, I am still learning his patterns of alerting and still building a trust with him.  For those of you that know Radar, you know that he has a nickname that he lives up to. For those of you that don’t know Radar…lets just say when he is good, he is absolutely wonderful but when he is bad………HE IS HORRID!  Radar does nothing in moderation!

Anyhow I am sitting in my chair thinking about taking a nap…the phone rings and it is Kim, my diabetic educator.  I remember talking to her at first then my memory gets real fuzzy.  The rest of this is from her. “You was telling Radar to stop it and go lay down. When I ask you what he was doing, you replied he is smacking me in the head with his paw.  I ask what Bravo was doing you said laying on couch looking at me.  You kept getting after Radar telling him to leave you alone. I ask if you had checked your sugar, you told me it was 128 about a half hour ago. I told you to check again. You kept growling at Radar to stop it.  When ask again what Radar was doing you told me he was standing on your shoulder licking your ear, pawing your head and that Bravo had his head in your lap and was staring at you.  I finally got you to check and you had dropped to 39.”

Radar is tenacious!  When he decides he is really going after something NOTHING will stop him.  It is like the more you tell him no, the more he says “Well, WATCH THIS”!

I got Radar with no real specific purpose in mind.  He was going to be my ‘truck dog”.  I wanted a little dog but I needed one that could hang with my big dogs.  Nothing fazes him, except he doesn’t like my brother stomping his feet at him.  Radar retrieves birds, jumps off the dock (SOMETIMES when water isn’t to cold), plays at agility, does stupid pet tricks, and will do about anything I ask him to do…but he does everything with a big dog attitude.  I tell people that he is a 18 pound, 15 inch tall Chesapeake Bay retriever. He is really a Parson Russell Terrier.  What a funny little dog!  When I first got him, he snuggled right into me.  Then we went to go get a harness for him and he tried to eat me in the middle of Petco.  Radar has always been at the extremes.  He does nothing halfway.

No matter how he handles things I am just glad he is as tenacious as he is about alerting.  A friend once told me “A stubborn person needs a stubborn dog!”  Hmmmm, I guess I deserved that remark!

Honoring What They Do

After the first tattoo I realized that if I really wanted EMS to know I was diabetic I should do something on both wrist’s.  However, I wanted something different.  The above is what I came up with.  Those are Bravo and Radar’s actual paw prints, reduced down to fit.  Now not only are they engraved on my heart…they are engraved on my arm.

I am sure there are folks that are wondering if I have lost my mind.  Well many have wondered that for years!!  Maybe I am just confirming it now.  What Bravo and Radar do is so IMPORTANT to me…this seems trivial in comparison.  I have had some amazing dogs in my life but these 2 go beyond amazing…they are my life line in so many ways.

On the day that I got this tattoo I went down to Animal Control to get Bravo’s license.  There was a long line and the usual uncontrollable family pets.  There was a pit bull right in front of me that kept wanting to play with any dog around including Bravo.  Bravo ignored him and everyone else except for a gentleman that was ahead of me in line.  He had some sort of mixed breed on a leash next to him.  The line moved slowly. Bravo kept watching what I thought was the dog next to the gentleman.  He wouldn’t stay sitting, he wouldn’t stay down, and at that point in my eyes he was being a very BAD dog.  I was about ready to take him out to the truck. The line inched forward and suddenly the gentleman with the mixed breed sort of collapsed at the counter.  A fireman who was behind me in line stepped forward to assist the gentleman when I hear “diabetic”.  I look at Bravo and suddenly realize it is out of character for him to be such an unruly dog and that he was alerting on someone else.  DUH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Sometimes I wish I was as smart and as compassionate as my dog! All I can do is get a tattoo that reminds me of how wonderful they are!

Having Fun Is Important!

  

Bravo and Radar had an awesome weekend!  We spent the weekend at the Shamrock Splash put on by Splash Dogs and at the International Sportsman's Expo doing Dock Dogs. 

I firmly believe that while Bravo may be a full working dog he needs to have fun as well!  Bravo’s best jump this weekend was well off his personal best but still a respectable jump of 21’4” in Big Air and 6 feet in Extreme Vertical!  Our local newspaper The Deseret News has some great video clips of the Dock Dog event.  About halfway through there are some great shots of Bravo doing the Extreme Vertical.   Click Here!

Radar is a fair weather dog!  He likes to jump when the water is warm or when there is something that really gets his attention…like a remote control speed boat!  His big thing this weekend was Course-A-Lure.  I call it “crack for terriers”!  Below is a video of Radar attempting Course-A-Lure.

As you can see from the opening picture Bravo had a very respectable weekend!  Dock Dogs has an event called Speed Retrieve.  We had never seen this event before, let alone try it.  The jest of it is that a “flappy” (bumper) is suspended from a electronic timer box at the end of a 40’ pool.  The dog must be behind a electronic eye at 20’ on the dock.  There is a light that blinks yellow 3 times and then turns green and you release your dog to go.  The dog then must jump in the water and swim to the object and grab it thus stopping the timer.  Bravo’s first attempt was a little over 8 seconds!  Not blazing fast but still respectable!

Bravo qualified for the finals in both Big Air and Speed Retrieve.  During the Big Air Finals we were just getting ready to attempt our first jump when I felt my blood sugar dropping.  I decided to go ahead and try and push through it.  I set Bravo at his normal start place of 32’feet on the dock, walked to the end of the dock, and called him hard to come jump.  He raced to me…threw the brakes on, stopped at the edge of the dock, looked me in the eye, and then jumped 7’.  “Excuse me, mom…..I like this stuff but your blood sugar is low!” I came off the dock ate 2 bags of gummy bears, 4 tabs, and a bag of peanut mix. Round 2 went better, but Bravo’s heart still wasn’t into jumping.  He jumped a little over 17’ and took 8th in the finals. I on the other hand went and took a glucagon shot!

In spite of the low blood sugar attack, we had a awesome weekend.  It never ceases to amaze me how Bravo can override all of his training in other venues and still tell me when my sugars are low!  He was trained in obedience, field, agility, and jumping long before he started alerting…yet somehow he overrides all of that training to tell me when my sugars are low!

Alert Stories

Everyone wants to hear great alert stories….I have to be honest I wish no one ever had to have any need for an alerting dog! For myself, I can handle the high blood glucose readings but I really hate the low blood glucose readings. The lows really leave me feeling bad…but I have another tool in my arsenal to assist in the battle against lows. Their names are Bravo and Radar!

Bravo started alerting naturally, meaning I did not teach a trained response. After I figured out what he was telling me I then started rewarding it and shaping the behavior. A low blood sugar is NOT the time to start dog training!

Bravo’s first alert that I noticed started this way. I was sitting in my recliner watching TV and surfing the net when Bravo came over and laid his head on my lap. I petted him and he backed up and did what I call his ‘pee dance’. I got up to let him outside. When I started to the door to let him out he stood there and looked at me. I went back and sat down. He repeated this behavior. When I stood up he jumped up and wrapped me in a ‘Chessie hug’. At this point I realized that I didn’t feel so good…sure enough I was low.

There have been so many alerts since that first one that I can’t recall all of them, but here are a few more. I was running agility in Idaho. The day had worn on and on. It was getting late but a group of us were going to go to dinner…so I kept snacking to maintain my glucose levels. When Bravo and I got into the ring it was getting dark. We completed half of the course and had just come off the table. Bravo was suppose to be on my right and he indicated that was where he was going when he suddenly comes to my left gets in front of me and stops. I get him back on course and he repeats the come to my left, get in front and stop. I tried a 3rd time again the same reaction…suddenly I realize I don’t feel so good. I thank the judge, take him by the collar, and leave the ring. As soon as we got outside the ring gate he alerted again more strongly. I checked, treated, and was good to go.

Friends had invited me to go hunting. I am not sure who likes bird hunting more…me or Bravo. We found a covey of quail and decided to go after them. It was just going to be a quick hunt so I left my meter and glucose tablets in the truck. I mean what could happen….we are just going across the ditch. Off we go, B is quartering in front of me having a wonderful time. He is even grinning as he runs. Birds come up and we shoot. The covey splits up with a few birds going this way and few going that way, but none of them go very far. So we decide to go after them. This little across the ditch hunt now turns into an hour hike on the hillside. We are heading back to the truck. My buddies are already at the truck. All I have to do is cross the ditch…when suddenly Bravo stops quartering comes back and stops in front of me. I tell him to ‘hunt em up’. He doesn’t move. I repeat…he doesn’t move. One of my buddies hollers at me “KC…I don’t know but that dog sure looks like he is telling you something! I ain’t never seen an alert but that is what it looks like to me. Are you okay?” Sure enough I was low.

It is right before Christmas. I am at a local book store picking up some last minute presents. B is laying at my feet while I browse a book. Suddenly he sits up comes in front of me and stares at me. I place book back on shelf, reach in pocket to grab glucose tabs, walk over and sit down. That is the last thing I remember for a bit. The next was told to me by a lady who helped. She said that my dog was sitting with his head in my lap. Occasionally he would pay at me or whine. She said I just stared off into space. She came up and asks me some questions. Said I made no sense whatsoever. She is also diabetic and asks me if she could get me a coke. I guess I told her no I needed insulin. She then knew something was very wrong! So she ask if she could check my blood sugar. I was down to 15! She then ask if she could give me some insulin….said I was very agreeable to that and she used my glucagon pen to administer fast acting glucose. My brain returned……when I checked with my meter I was up to 27! As I continued to get my wits about me…she commented that the reason she checked on me was that my dog was so persistent in getting to me.
Driving down the road with a friend…suddenly B is whining and resting his head on her shoulder. He is being very persistent! She is also diabetic so I ask her to check her sugar. She is down to 42!

I am judging a Hunt Test. Bravo is in a kennel in the back of my truck about 50 yards from the line. A lady comes to me and lets me know that my dog is barking and digging at his kennel door “like he needs to go air (bathroom)”. We get a break so I go let him out. He jumps out of truck runs to me and wraps me in a hug…so I check my sugar. Meter says I am at 100 (fine). I put him back in his kennel…but he is still acting up. One more dog runs the test when suddenly I don’t feel good. I recheck and am now down in the 50’s. If someone wants to explain to me this alert I am all ears. He was 50 yards away from me in the truck, yet somehow he knew! Bravo never acts like that in his kennel…”Hey Owens…TRUST YOUR DOG!”

Just last night I sat down to watch the Olympics and was talking on the phone. When Bravo comes over drops his head in my lap and stares at me….sure enough I was in the 70’s. Not horrible but still enough I am going to treat.

Then there are the nighttime lows. You know you go to sleep you are fine and you wake up and you aren’t! Anyone who has had those nighttime drops if honest will tell you that it makes you afraid to go to sleep. You worry you might not wake up. It is scary stuff! Numerous times I have awoken to Bravo pawing and whining at me, only to check and find out that my numbers are dropping low. Sometimes I am really hard to wake up. I get over tired or over stressed and I can sleep through an earthquake. In the last few months there has been several times where I as I awake I can hear Bravo whining or barking but what woke me up was Radar digging at my head! As I said in a previous post Radar is still in training and he is an aggressive alerter...meaning he goes after it…but if it gets me up I am fine with it!

There are many more instances of them alerting me or others, but you get the idea. I wish they didn’t have to do this…I honestly don’t understand all of what they are doing…..BUT I AM VERY GLAD they do!