Reflections about Training

               I know after several recent meet up with several diabetic alert dogs the more I appreciate all the effort I put into keep Duchess's training up. I know I work hard at it but she will never be perfect and neither will I but at least she is a better example of what a good service dog should be. I know I will never be able to completely get rid of her food issues. She has a weakness for food. I can tell her to leave it and she will but I know it is not difficult for her either. We work on her food issues daily to keep her from wanting to pick up food off the ground or get other bad ideas. I know some dogs have weakness for attention or play etc. So Duchess is quite normal in her issue. I think she is also very treat motivated which I know some trainers want people to move away from. I know it works for us as a team and I okay with giving her treats because in my mind she earns them. She is also where she needs to be weight wise and I exercise her regularly but if her weight does become and issue I will have to change her reward for alerting. I know my recent exposures to diabetic alert dog at the conference I was really upset at the quality of dog being put out but I really think the issue is not the training but the lack of follow up after training by families. I know it seems like a dream to have a dog to help you catch lows but it is so much work. I know this also makes me even more thankful for the wonderful dog that Duchess is but also the little idiosyncrasies in our relationship. I also must thank her training for giving me the information I needed to keep Duchess working but also how much continued work would need to be done. I know my journey has been great so far but there is so much I am still learning about Duchess and myself through our daily adventures.