Wednesday, November 22, 2017


What Musketeer Does For Me


Musketeer and I have been together for forty days!  I have been asked a lot of questions and I'm going to attempt to answer them here now.

How does Musketeer help you?  
Musketeer is a diabetic alert (medical alert) service dog.  He was scent trained to alert me when my blood sugar (blood glucose - BG) levels go too high or too low.  He does this by placing his paw on my leg.  I then test my BG level and *IF* he's correct, he gets a treat.  He then has to "alert" (place his paw on my leg) at least five more times right away, and I give him a treat each time.  Doing that teaches him to be persistent.  Diabetics tend to lose focus due to off levels, so having him "nudge" me until I do something is very important.  AFTER the five paws and treats, then we ALL praise him (We call this a "PUPPY PARTY").  

Sometimes when he alerts, my machine doesn't agree with Musketeer.  This is due to a dog's nose being about 20 minutes faster than a machine.  So I wait 15 to 20 minutes and Musketeer has learned to wait and alert again, and then it's usually correct!

Are you with Musketeer all the time?
Basically, yes.  We do have four one-hour "Doggy Den" times a day.  Musketeer's "Doggy Den" is an indoor kennel/crate.  It was explained to me like this:  If you were offered to spend an hour in your bedroom with your cell phone/lap top, a snack and a drink, would you want to do that?  YES!!!  That's basically what it's like for Musketeer.  He gets an hour, four times a day, to just chill and relax and not have to worry about me, and I get an hour, four times a day, when I can nap or shower or help in the kitchen, without needing to worry about Musketeer.

Does Musketeer ever get to play?
YES!  Musketeer plays with everyone in the family several times a day!  He doesn't play on his own, he doesn't like to do that.  He loves to interact and have the Frisbee or tennis ball thrown to him and have someone pull on the tug rope with him!

Does Musketeer wear his vest at home?
No.  We know he's a service dog.  Everyone in the house knows when he's alerting me that they need to back off and let him do his thing and we can all celebrate during the PUPPY PARTY!  

Service dogs do NOT need to wear a vest or any other marking!  They can legally "work naked".  Most service dog handlers have their dogs wear vests just to stop others from asking so many questions and so others will hopefully back up and leave our dog alone.

Do all Diabetic Alert Dogs alert the same way?
No.  It all depends on what company you go through.  Some companies only train dogs to alert to low BG levels (which is stupid, IMO).  Some companies bring you the dog and teach you how to train the dog and make you pay $45,000 for that service (which is stupid, IMO).  All but one company (that I'm aware of) has you come to them, to teach you how to work with your diabetic alert dog (which, again, I think is stupid because I feel you should be trained to work with your dog where you live and at stores that you'll be going to).  

How much does a Diabetic Alert Dog cost?
That all depends on the company you use.  The "free" dogs have a waiting list of 5 to 8 years.  If you purchase your dog, it could range from $15,000 to $80,000 due to all of the hours, round the clock, that are put into these amazing animals.

Does your dog ever bark?
Yes.  He doesn't bark if there is someone at the door, but if he sees a squirrel in our yard when he's looking out the big picture window in front, then yes, he lets us know there is a squirrel intruding on our lawn.  :)  He occasionally gives a warning growl, and I just have to tell him to "leave it" or "no" and he won't follow through with a bark.

Is Musketeer trained for the rest of his life?
That's totally up to me.  We practice alerts, either with my own BG levels or with scent samples, at least five times a day.  We practice all of the commands:  Come, Sit, Down, Stay, Leave it.  Drop it, Wait, Eat, Go Potty, This way, Let's go, Play, Kennel, Load up, Heel, etc.  Working with a service dog is ALWAYS repeating and practicing.  That will never end.  Life would get dull if we had to stop working on improving.  If you don't keep working on commands and being appropriate, dogs will slide into the "Pet" zone and will no longer be a service dog.

Can I see Musketeer working with you?
You're welcome to watch the videos I've posted here on the Dog Blog, but I generally don't have the camera going when my blood sugar levels go wonky and I can't manage the camera, test my blood sugar level, reward Musketeer, have a Puppy Party AND treat my blood sugar level all at the same time!  That, and it would be a huge invasion of privacy.

IF you'd like to see some training videos, I suggest you watch these:  http://www.diabeticalertdogsofamerica.com/our-videos

Musketeer is home.  Does that mean he's paid for?
No.  He's not paid for.  I've had several people make promises and for some reason or another, things fell through.  I understand that can happen.  I have monthly payments of $270 USD to fullfill (total of $5960.26 USD), as well as $60/month for food, $10/month for reward treats, I'll need to take him to the vet, etc., etc., etc.

How can I help?
Reading this Dog Blog, asking me how I'm doing, sharing the Dog Blog/my story with others, and if you are able, purchasing items from ~XM~ Designs, donating at any of my service dog donation kiosks or a more straight forward way is donation via PayPal to wisconsin_marie@yahoo.com

THANK YOU
for READING!
THANK YOU
for your QUESTIONS!
THANK YOU
for your HELP!
*YOU*
ARE
APPRECIATED!



Tuesday, November 21, 2017


First Nail Trimming


A dog's nails need to be trimmed.  True, a service dog has a lot more "concrete time" than some dogs, so they don't need to have their nails trimmed as often.  ANYWAY... I wanted to get it done before Thanksgiving holiday, before house guests and everything else.  

I took Musketeer to PetSmart Salon.  The three gals there were super nice.  They talked how pets are "children".  I told them that Musketeer takes care of me, so it feels weird to be called his "mommy".  I'm his lady.  They totally understood that.

They took Musketeer five yards away from me, just behind the counter.  He could see me, I could see him.  He could hear me, I could hear him.  He tried to walk backwards to not go with them!  The entire time he was under their "control", he was PANICKING!

The PetSmart Salon folks told me they have another service dog come in, a black lab, who does the exact same thing!  These dogs know that they are responsible for their humans and if they aren't there next to their human, something bad might happen without them there!  Musketeer leaned into me the moment he was finished.

When we got home and I got his vest off and such, he went nuts loving on me, licking my face, leaning in against me really hard, running in circles and nudging me every time he went in a circle.  It was a bigger reaction than he gave me when he met me!  It was as if Musketeer was saying, "READ MY TAG!!!  READ MY VEST!!!  DO *NOT* SEPARATE ME FROM MY HANDLER!!!!  DO NOT EVER DO THAT AGAIN!!!!!!"  Dogs show love and man, Musketeer LOVES LOVES LOVES me!!!!!  

I LOVE LOVE LOVE my puppy!!!

Saturday, November 18, 2017


PREMIERE
of
MUSKETEER MOVIES
"Driving Musketeer"

First time editing... EVER!
Please have sound on.





Thursday, November 16, 2017



Rainy morning means playing ball until you flop on the floor!


Sun comes out and a SQUIRREL is spotted!  Squirrel Patrol Musketeer is on duty!


Friday, November 10, 2017


Backyard play time with a few snowflakes coming down!  Musketeer would watch a snowflake land in the grass, then breathe on it and it would melt... then it seemed like Musketeer was like, "Where did it go???  It was JUST HERE!!!".  Fun time!


Funds are still needed!
We're over half way there!
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THANK YOU!
YOU are appreciated!!!

Monday, November 6, 2017


Beautiful Morning at the State Park!







Funds are still needed.
Please consider donating.
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Wednesday, November 1, 2017




One of our local fire stations asked me to bring Musketeer over and talk to the fire fighters/ EMTs about people with service dogs.  I had planned on telling them a bit how they can help service dog handlers, then giving a demonstration using a scent sample.  Musketeer had other plans and alerted me while I was talking.  GOOD BOY, MUSKETEER!!!