4-Year-Old Boy Receives Diabetic Alert Service Dog in Brentwood, Maryland
BRENTWOOD, Md., October 19, 2017 (Newswire.com) - Mylon, a 4-year-old boy in Brentwood, Maryland, received a very special delivery today! A Diabetic Alert Service Dog named Slash was delivered to his family today from Service Dogs by Warren Retrievers. Based in Madison, Virginia, Service Dogs by Warren Retrievers, or “SDWR,” has a mission to provide specially-bred and trained dogs for adults and children with invisible disabilities like Diabetes, PTSD, Seizure Disorders, or in the case of Mylon—Type One Diabetes. SDWR has almost 600 service dogs working across the U.S. and around the globe. SDWR is currently serving nearly 1,000 families.
Slash, a labrador retriever Diabetic Alert Service Dog, has already received thousands of hours of training through SDWR’s service dog raiser program where volunteers raise puppies in training for about a period of one year. The dogs and raisers must follow through the foundation and skillset training provided through SDWR trainers at the facility in Virginia.
My son is now four and has had diabetes for the last year and four months... I am the only caregiver to him and I need more overall help.
Katherine, Mother of Service Dog Recipient
Mylon has Type 1 Diabetes and his mother, Katherine, states that “My son is now four and has had diabetes for the last year and four months... I am the only caregiver to him and I need more overall help.” One of the ways Slash will help Mylon and his family is by alerting when his blood sugars get out of range at nighttime. Slash is a service dog and is therefore covered under laws in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. This means that Slash will be able to accompany the family everywhere — from restaurants to doctor visits to even the grocery store. He will work with SDWR trainers to gain the full public-access certification.
SDWR uses a proprietary scent training method to teach Diabetic Service Dogs to detect fluctuations in blood sugar that fall outside of a handler’s healthy range. This training program is what sets SDWR apart from other nonprofit service dog organizations. In the coming 18 months, SDWR will return to Mylon’s home every 3-4 months to continue working on Slash’s customized training, follow up training and training the human to make a successful team and public access certification. This certification can only be given to Mylon after a progression of hard work and dedication to the SDWR training program.
Service Dogs by Warren Retrievers is a nonprofit organization based in Madison, Virginia, and relies on donations to help the Organization in its mission, “Until there’s a cure… There’s a dog.” To make a donation or learn more about SDWR, please visit the website, www.sdwr.org. To learn more about Diabetic Alert Service Dogs visit www.sdwr.org/service-dogs/diabetic-alert. To find out how you can volunteer as a service dog in training raiser visit www.sdwr.org/volunteer-opportunities.
Source: Service Dogs by Warren Retrievers
