DAD changes the parameters
September 05, 2012
It’s because I’m a drug dog handler and I know what to expect in the drug dog world. You train a dog to find marijuana, and it finds marijuana. Train it to find meth, and it finds meth. Okay, you get the occasional prescription drug by mistake because its related chemically, but you get what I mean.
So I train my drug dog to alert on blood sugar over 240. She does really great at finding samples I’ve collected at over 240. Then the silly dog starts alerting when I’m 180 and I need insulin. <huh?>
She has been doing it for the past four weeks.
Pulled it off again tonight. We’re finishing up dog class – she starts tugging at the leashes -- and to be honest, I wouldn’t have been surprised if I was low, but no, in the 180s and short 3 units according to the meter. Probably dehydrated since we were doing agility and I was running two dogs in the Texas summer heat. Took the insulin, drank some water, sat in the car for a bit to cool off in the A/C and felt much better.
And yes, I’m praising and accepting those alerts, and scratching my head every time she does them, because honestly, SHE’S RIGHT, but it isn’t what I trained.
And she’s yet to alert when I didn’t need insulin or sugar.