03/28/2023
Hi! I’m Rey’s mom, Tiv. Very nice to meet you! My child Rey is a person living with Type 1 diabetes (T1D). Jinx is Rey’s diabetic alert dog in training.
Rey and Jinx’s story began on 11/30/2018, the day Rey was diagnosed with T1D when she was 9 yrs old.
When Rey was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, we knew we wanted to get her a diabetic alert dog (d.a.d. Service dog). In those first months in addition to learning all we could about Type 1 diabetes, we were also researching diabetic alert service dogs. We researched the plausibility, realistic expectations, cost, training, trainers, time frames, breeds… everything. We found an amazing diabetic alert dog trainer that happens to be from our little town. She has written books, created videos, and founded a nonprofit (Libby Rockaway & her nonprofit MDdogs) all in an effort to assist and guide individuals in self training their diabetic alert dogs. It takes 18 months to two years to fully train a service dog. We wanted to make sure the dog was fully trained and bomb proof by the time Rey is 16, driving, and wanting more independence. About 2+ years ago I started searching for THE best breeder for our needs. Labrador (English and American hybrid), color unimportant, female, dam and sire have accredited genetic testing and hips/elbows certified, parents have the proper temperament, both parents on site, has produced sound working dogs, early scent introduction, and close enough to drive to visit the dam and sire and provide scent samples of Rey’s low and high glucose… basically hunting for a needle in a haystack. I must have scoped out or communicated with dozens of breeders. At the first sign of a *possible* red flag I would move on and keep looking. We found the perfect breeder for Rey’s service dog in Sa'rah West with Rio Vista Retrievers. She has been EXCEPTIONAL every single step of the way. Full stop. We told her what we needed. She meets or exceeds every single requirement. She has 100% gone above and beyond. Sa’rah, I don’t know how we can ever thank you for giving this puppy the very best start she could’ve possibly had. The first 8 weeks are so crucial and you do everything humanly possible to make the first 8 weeks the best foundation for every puppy.
This has been a 4 year process and labor of love to get to this point.
Picture of Rey meeting Jinx for the first time in Jan 2022.
