HOW DID THEY KNOW?

Several years ago... when I was pregnant with Buggy girl, I had gone to a neighboring town and I didn't realize my blood sugar levels were low when I was headed back home after.  *I* have no memory of a majority of this, but I was told a bunch of things later....

Story Time!

So I was headed home... about a 15 mile drive.  I was later told that it appeared that I was playing chicken with other cars, driving over the line and veering back into my lane at the very last moment.  I was told I clipped off one lady's side mirror from her car.  I lead  six police cars and the sheriff on a slow speed chase and they called my husband, "Do you know who might be driving your car right now?"  He told the officers that I was.  They asked him if I had any medical issues.  He told them that I was 3 months pregnant and I was a Type 1 diabetic.  The police put down a spike strip before I got to the exit to a main road.  The spike strip punctured three of the tires and I slowed to a stop, bumping into the sheriff's rear bumper.  Officers pulled me out of the car at gun point, had me laying on the road where they handcuffed me.

After I was handcuffed, they had me sit at the side of the road where an ambulance was.  They tested my blood sugar level and it was 33 (WAY TOO LOW!), gave me glucose and put me in the back of the ambulance, taking me to the hospital.  

By the time I got to the hospital, I knew what was going on, my blood sugar level was back in the normal range and I could finally think clearly again.  I was terrified because I didn't know what would happen to me.  The police didn't even talk to me (that I remember, or that I was told).  One of the ambulance guys told me that it will be on my record for awhile and the doctor would have to turn in my blood sugar test results for a year or two, to show I wasn't going to drive with a low like that again.

Well...........  I have a few times.  And yes, I test my levels before I get behind the wheel of the car.  Just sometimes, things happen and levels change and I can't tell they've changed and machines are about 20 minutes slower than actual levels, so I might get a reading of 80 (which is GREAT), but be on the way down and by the time it's too late, I could be in the 30s (which is WAY TOO LOW).

So, I was VERY GLAD to see that Diabetic Alert Dogs of America (D.A.D.A.) were training Musketeer to do THIS:

And Now...

Down Again.

The roller coaster of life has many ups and downs and sharp turns.  The best you can do is hang on tight and enjoy the ride when you can!

Perhaps I should practice what I preach?

I've been feeling really low for the past couple days.  I talked to "the new gal" at D.A.D.A. (Diabetic Alert Dogs of America - where Musketeer, my service dog, is being trained).  She told me that Musketeer would be coming home at the END of October.  I had just been told mid-October.  Now two weeks have been added on?

I was also told that Ed, the head dude of D.A.D.A., would be delivering Musketeer.  From the videos that I've seen of him, he seems to me a Type A personality, just go, go, go type of person who doesn't wait for anyone or anything.  My GO went when I fell down that flight of stairs..  I don't move like I used to move.  And they want me to wait to do ALL of Musketeer's shopping so Ed can go with me to explain what to get and what not to get.  I like to go shopping, but I'm more of a snail's pace now, and I get wiped out rather quickly.  So I started getting high anxiety about going shopping with Ed.  Thankfully, I have an AMAZING husband who asked, "How much does Musketeer cost?  For THAT much, Ed can go shopping at YOUR speed and asking you how he can help make things better for you!".  

I'm worried about having the house ready for a dog.  I'm worried about how long it's going to take because my blood sugar levels are yo-yo-ing so horribly lately and I drove while bottomed out and don't know how I got home the other day, and then the next day I'm up in the 400s.  SO NOT COOL.  So I'm wanting Musketeer home NOW, but I'm not ready for him RIGHT now and he's not ready quite yet either.  I'm worried about how much start up funds will be needed when Ed is here.  How many times are we going to need to go out to eat and spend money at restaurants? How much for all of the food, bowls, treats, chews, etc. etc. etc. just to get STARTED, cuz you need EVERYTHING all at once!  Once you have everything, then cost is spread out.  Oh, we'll need to get a city dog license too.  I almost forgot about that.  The Purpose Hunt went REALLY WELL for the first two and a half days.  Now it seems to be at a stand still.  That's rather discouraging.

Anyway...  I was told that we'll be given a 2 to 3 week heads up before they get here.  My blood sugar level just went up a bunch while I was typing this cuz I'm getting so stressed and my pain level is really high as well.

Don't worry!  Be happy!

18th Weekly Report Card

for

Service Dog

Musketeer Puppy!

Musketeer has been working on night alerts, alerting by jumping on the bed when handler is not responding to a side alert, waiting patiently after an alert for the handler to go through the motions of checking glucose level, alerting in a car, alerting with one paw, continued practice with proofing alerts, maintaining a down stay in areas with people constantly entering and exiting a location, maintaining a down stay for extended periods of time, heeling through public places in a controlled manner, and maintaining proper behavior and control and alerting with unknown dogs near. His training locations have included a local fire station, Basha's, Macy's, Macayo's Mexican Food and an optometrist office. 

Next week, Musketeer will be working on night alerts, alerting with one paw, alerting with children playing close, alerting in a restaurant environment, car alerts, maintaining a down stay without a specified boundary, and reinforcement of all obedience and public service skills.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I had been told night alerts is the most challenging task for a diabetic alert service dog and takes the longest to be able to do. Musketeer is flying through this part of his training!

Basically, what D.A.D.A. (Diabetic Alert Dogs of America) is doing now is just fine tuning everything Musketeer has learned prior to his testing.

As I understand it, several senior trainers will get together with Musketeer and put him through the paces of everything he needs to know for public access and for trained tasks he needs for my disabilities. Testing takes a bit of time. If Musketeer fails at anything, more time will be needed to perfect where he messed up.

Trainers are thinking Musketeer will be ready to come home in mid-October. I had been originally told it takes six to eight months to fully train a dog. Mid-October will be five and a half months.

I don't like asking for help. It's not happy for me to ask. I'd MUCH RATHER *GIVE* help than ask for it. But, I need help to get this service dog home.
PayPal: wisconsin_marie@yahoo.com

HUGE THANK YOU

for reading about this process,

for listening to me through the

highs and lows

(blood glucose highs & lows

as well as

emotional highs & lows!),

for praying for us,

for putting up with all of my

EMOTIONS

in dealing with frustrations

and

celebrations!

THANK YOU

for being the AMAZING YOU

who cares!

I truly appreciate

YOU!
(And so does Musketeer!)

LAST HUGE HURRAH

To Raise Funds

For

MUSKETEER PUPPY

The Service Dog!

Thanks to Gardenia Events and LOTS of SL merchants with big hearts, the The Purpose Hunt is helping to raise funds to get Musketeer HOME!  Gardenia made my shop, ~XM~ Designs, the first stop of approx. 30 stores.  This is a 5 L hunt with 4 L going to Musketeer and 1 L going to the amazing in world merchants.  For MP stores, it's a 10 L hunt with 7 L going to Musketeer, 1 L going to the merchants and 2 L going to LL.

This is the last major push (that I'm aware of) to get Musketeer home.  We're still in need of approx. $6500 USD to get him paid off.

Here is what you'll get at your first stop and I've seen several of the other items merchants have made and all I can say is WOWZERS!

Please grab friends and folks from your groups to participate!

Different Types of Dogs

There is often lots of confusion about different types of dogs.  I'm going to try to do a "Reader's Digest" version of breaking it down.  Please realize none of these are "better" than the other!  ALL animals are VERY important!

PETS

A pet dog is the one you love on, you take for walks, is all happy when you come home.  You may NOT take your pet into No Animal Access places like stores, restaurants, hotels, taxis, airplanes.

ESAs (Emotional Support Animals)

ESAs may live with you, even in rentals that say NO PETS ALLOWED, *IF* you have a letter from your doctor saying you need your Emotional Support Animal with you.  You DO need paper work for ESAs for transportation and housing.  Emotional Support Animals MAY NOT go into stores or restaurants or any place animals are not allowed UNLESS it is for transportation or housing.

THERAPY DOGS

Therapy dogs do not take care of their handler.  The handler brings a therapy dog to nursing homes, hospitals, clinics, etc. to give others a distraction/feel better time while those people may not feel comfortable.  For example, my son's ear doctor's dog is a therapy dog and is at the doctor's office in the mornings to help calm patients.  These dogs are only allowed into these places if the nursing home, hospital, clinic, etc. allows.

SERVICE DOGS

A service dog is basically "medical equipment" for a certain individual.  It has been trained for public access.  It will never urinate/poop on the floor - unless a flight has been delayed, will not eat spilled food from anywhere, it will not bark unless trained to do so for alerting those with vision issues, AND most importantly, it has been TASK TRAINED to do specific task(s) to assist its handler with their disability.  The service dog handler MUST have a disability to have a service dog.  Service dogs do NOT have papers stating it is a service dog.  There is NO registration.  Service dogs do NOT have to wear a vest or any markings.  It is illegal to distract or harm a service dog.  

IT IS ILLEGAL TO PASS OFF A DOG AS A SERVICE DOG IF IT HAS NOT GONE THROUGH THE NEEDED TRAINING *OR* IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A DISABILITY!

To learn more, click HERE!
For an fun informational video, click HERE!

Thanks for Reading!

A Bit of Babble from Me

After reading the 17th Weekly Report Card on Musketeer, I didn't know what "proofing his alerts" meant, so I called D.A.D.A. to ask them. It basically means going over what he already knows and making sure it stays with him. A service dog never stops "studying". I'll be going over all of his commands several times every week and working with him to make sure he stays in tip top shape for public access as well as doing his job at alerting me.

I was told that there have been no complaints about Musketeer at all, that he's learning everything so well.

The main office is now saying he'll be going home mid-October. That, of course, isn't set in stone. It depends on when everyone can get together to do the testing and flights and when someone is able to deliver Musketeer and train me and all of that. So, approximately SIX MORE WEEKS!

THE PURPOSE HUNT

Thanks to the kindness of several people, there is a special fund raising hunt on SL, called The Purpose Hunt!  At last notification (and if I'm remembering correctly) there were 23 merchants participating!  Some are inworld stores, some are Marketplace stores.  ALL FUNDS raised goes toward getting Musketeer HOME!

PLEASE HELP by participating in this hunt!!!  PLEASE nudge three others to do this hunt as well.  THE MORE THAT DO THIS HUNT, THE BETTER!

THANK YOU!

THANK YOU!

THANK YOU!

17th Weekly

Report Card

for

Musketeer the Service Dog

Musketeer has been working on maintaining a down stay with various distractions in the house, waiting patiently after an alert for the handler to go through the motions of checking their glucose level, alerting with one paw, detecting out of range fluctuating glucose levels in public, detecting and alerting from a down position while on a bed, proofing his alerts and simulated night alerts. His training locations have included Home Goods, AJ Fine Foods, Sprouts, Marshalls, Walmart, and Old Navy. 

Next week, Musketeer, will be working on night alerts, alerting by jumping on the bed when handler is not responding to a side alert, waiting patiently after an alert for the handler to go through the motions of checking glucose level, alerting in a car, alerting with one paw, continued practice with proofing alerts, maintaining a down stay in areas with people constantly entering and exiting a location, maintaining a down stay for extended periods of time, heeling through public places in a controlled manner, and maintaining proper behavior/self control and alerting with unknown dogs near.

Thank you for your interest!

Thank you for your support!

Thank you for your prayers!

YOU are appreciated!