LLLeashes LLC

11/13/2021

12/27/2020

A great live video including some excellent steps to take when choosing a pup to be an Assistance (Service) Dog! And a bonus is her pup is a full sibling to Beni, from the repeat breeding of Beni’s litter. I’m so excited to watch her pup grow up! If he’s anything like Beni, he is going to be one stellar Assistance Dog!

12/03/2020

I know I brag on this dog constantly and here shortly I’ll stop posting about him since he isn’t mine anymore, but he really is a special one!

In the time Beni has been with Bri, since the first day they began transition training, Beni has given 123 correct alerts. These alerts have consisted of low blood sugar alerts, high alerts, early alerts, and alerts to rapid changes. He has missed only a total of 10 alerts in all that time since August! And 60% of those few misses occurred before he completed his transition training and was still learning all about his new family and new life that I’d dropped him off in.

Even more neat is that 54.55% of his alerts recorded have been unexpected - meaning that Bri wasn’t alerted by the Dexcom (a continuous glucose monitor), symptoms, or expected it for some other reason, but Beni told her! That is pretty neat that a little dog, powered by kibble, cookies, and fetch can be such a valuable tool even when utilizing medical technology as well!

Does this mean he is perfect and will one day never make a single mistake? No, because as amazing as this little spaniel is, he is still a dog and other factors will affect him. For example this last week he false alerted for the first time to Bri checking her finger without him alerting - having associated Bri’s checking with his alerts, he thought he was supposed to alert her when she went through the motions. But after a few texts between us and a quick fix he has bounced right back, and the past few days his alerts have once again been spot on.

Every one of those 123 correct alerts Beni has given have conveyed information to Bri regarding her blood sugar, and almost just as importantly they have been accompanied by a wagging spaniel looking up at her in anticipation of his “puppy party” - a reason to smile no matter the meter’s reading because that boy did his job and is eagerly waiting his party. Good job, Sprout. Good dog.

12/03/2020

Some amazing photos of our handsome boy and his new girl!

11/19/2020

As of Nov 15, 2020, Beni is a Diabetic Alert Dog for 13 year old Bri and will spend his life alerting to her blood sugar, and watching over her. Thank you for following his journey from the little energetic pup from Wales, to the dog he is now. Over the last 14 months leading up to this, Beni has taught me more than I ever could have imagined - how to expect the unexpected, to be happy anywhere, to find joy in the simple things like socks on the floor, and to approach the world with enthusiasm.

Honestly, Beni was one of the toughest puppies I have trained. His intense love of people meant he would not leave my lap - cute for a week but not so cute when we couldn’t even have a training session. His cold weather aversion combined with overexcitement caused constant whining on the streets of Belfast, making me question if he’d ever be quiet. For 11 straight months I couldn’t let anyone greet him on non-carpeted flooring due to his “happy bladder”. In February, I was even thinking of offering him to a working dog organization where he could give his full 110% enthusiasm without having to behave like a Service Dog.

But then, he changed. Maybe someone told him he had a girl and an important job, maybe he knew I was at my wits end, or maybe he grew up. But suddenly the dog who couldn’t settle in Starbucks, took an 8 hour international flight like he’d done it 1000 times. The dog who was obsessed with new friends, ignored anyone who tried to distract him. The dog who would ‘leak’ when greeting people, slowly stopped. And the dog who whined constantly, began to get quiet.

He tested me and stretched me, but he also wowed me. He is a dog like none other - he is confident, eager, passionate, expressive, biddable, brilliant, and does everything with his entire heart. I fell head over heels for this boy - he is everything I want in a dog and more, and handing him over tears me apart. But when I see how much he adores his family and the incredible alerts he is giving, I know his job is so much more important than just being with me.

So congratulations my Thouron Beni, I cannot wait to see the difference you make in your girl’s life, and I hope you bring her even half the joy you have brought me.

11/03/2020

My love for this boy can easily skew my opinion of his performance, but numbers aren’t easily swayed by his sweet face. And this little Irish boy’s numbers are mighty amazing!
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When my DADs are on conditional placement (with their family every day but contingent on their alerting success and behavior) the family has to log every alert, false alert, and missed alert. This ensures that we can look at the dog’s success objectively - not thinking about how hard they are trying, or how much we want them to be right. Today I want to share the actual numbers and part of Beni’s report to provide transparency - while numbers don’t tell you everything, they can certainly tell you some things!
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At the start of transition training, the alert success is the lowest typically because the dog is leaving everything they’ve known, Mahm isn’t around, and the new family has a steep learning curve. This is part of the process and is normal. As they become a team, alert accuracy improves and they find a rhythm.
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This usually happens over months. And the minimum for completion of my transition training is usually 80% success (dependent on the situation). But Beni never does anything halfway. 2 weeks ago his weekly alert success was ALREADY at 80%, and last week his weekly alert success was at 90%! This is absolutely incredible! And especially for this early on!
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Beni’s success will continue to bounce around - I don’t expect him to remain at 90% continuously as he’s still transitioning and learning, and so is his family. However, the fact that for 2 weeks in a row they had such high accuracies is incredibly encouraging and promising for the B&B team and shows that they are both working hard over there to become the best they can be. Good boy Sprout, good boy.
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Photo by LaTara Rose Photography

10/31/2020

The. Very. Best. Sprout. I am in awe of Beni who had his first night alert last night, totally unexpectedly. Night alerts are the holy grail of diabetic alert dog training - I have preached to Beni’s family (and all my DAD families) that night alerts cannot be guaranteed and should never be expected. Dogs sleep too, and if we don’t trust ourselves to wake up in the middle of the night, asking a dog to do so is crazy. I repeat this to families over and over again. But last night, Beni did his first night alert - completely unprompted, while everyone was sleeping, and he even knew to tell Bri’s parents, making the decision to leave Bri’s bed, run up to the parents’ room to wake them up at 12:30 at night. Below is a repost from their page - .

Such a brave sprout! His very first night alert happened yesterday. The lights were out and we were all asleep. Beni ran to my room with a sense of urgency jumped on my bed and then jumped back off. Before leaving my room he looked back to make sure I was following him. It was his sense of urgency and serious face that I knew he was trying to get my attention. I followed him into Bri’s room and as he jumped onto her bed he started pacing back and forth, sniffing the air and taking deep breaths as if clearing his nose. Beni was alerting me of Bri’s blood sugar level! To think our speckled sunshine took all of those steps to alert amazes me. We are so proud! Last night although half asleep we had the biggest puppy party in the history of parties haha.

10/26/2020

NY, New York. 10/25/20. One of the last days I had the privilege to work with my boy, and he took on the challenge like a dream.
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Yesterday Beni visited Brooklyn NY, where we had brunch outside, and then we went through Times Square practicing heeling, stays, and some fun cues. Beni handled the city so incredibly well! Before handing Beni over to Bri I wanted to see how he’d do with a busy city like NYC, as the last city he was in was Belfast. He handled it like a champ and worked in Times Square on nothing but a flat collar and all for low value rewards, demonstrating he was not stressed and was just a happy and confident boy in the middle of NYC.
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I was truly evaluating him this trip and his behavior would determine when I handed him to Bri. Beni did wonderfully, so the last thing we need to do is finish transitioning him to Bri.
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I’ve now done all I can with Beni. This morning we had a transition training session and I gave Bri my boy to hold onto for the next 15 years or so. We still have numerous transition training sessions together so I’ll still see him, and I will now be the one to have sleepovers with Beni - I’ll have him back to fix up anything if needed, or if Bri’s family has an event that they aren’t quite ready to bring Beni along for. But other than that, the boy is with Bri and her family, and my days with my Sprout are pretty much finished. But I couldn’t be more proud of my little Spaniel.
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10/20/2020

This boy is just such a good dog. Beni has been at Bri’s since yesterday afternoon - we are working on transitioning him over to her more each week. Since I left him at their house yesterday, he has alerted to 3 unexpected out of range blood sugars - a 228, an 86 which dropped to a 73, and a 62! That’s a low alert, a drop alert, and a high alert!
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I am so proud of Beni, how he’s alerting to all types of Bri’s out of range blood sugars, and how confident he is with alerting to Bri. Way to go Sprout! He is well on his way to becoming a graduated, Diabetic Alert Dog for his girl soon 💙.
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10/03/2020

Escalator training! We may have overdone it a bit....I now have a dog that thinks the escalator is like an amusement park ride someone thoughtfully installed at the mall specifically for his entertainment. He doesn’t realize yet that I actually don’t want to go on the escalator every time we walk by one... (This is comical to me and not an actual concern! I’d take too much enjoyment over too little enjoyment every day of the week. We will do a few reps practice and he’ll have a great association with the escalator still, but not be quite so excited that he breaks heel position to get on the escalator)
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Beni and I are moving tomorrow, so we used this week as an opportunity to do his escalator training while in a place we are familiar with. And he did beautifully!
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Escalators are a bit risky and typically I avoid them as an elevator can be found instead. But it’s also important that if needed, Beni knows how to properly and safely go up and down them because life happens and sometimes it may be necessary. So we do it as safely as possible - never without shoes, always jumping off the end, and remaining in the middle away from the edges. He’s now had his training and knows how to navigate them safely like a pro, so if there is a situation where he needs to go on one he can, but in the vast majority of situations he will still use stairs or the elevator instead to keep all his toes and tail feathers intact!
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09/13/2020

Mack Man’s first trip as an official Service Dog in training! And he was amazing! He did a beautiful job as I went to order take out for dinner and we waited to the side for 20 minutes or so. He didn’t make a peep, almost always remained in a down and immediately returned to position if he sat up, did not vacuum the floor (an accomplishment), and wasn’t startled by anyone or attempt to say Hi to anyone!
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But what does a service dog in training’s first trip look like? Did I just waltz in like he was a service dog and see how he did? Nope, I was a cookie machine. Every time he did something I liked, or there was a stimulus that he could potentially be uncertain about, he was rewarded. This is to 1) reinforce all good behaviors so they continue 2) to prevent him from becoming uncertain or from focusing on things that he’s never been exposed to leading him to react negatively and 3) to make public access trips a blast in his mind!
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Here’s a list of all the things Mack received a piece of kibble and praise for, to give an idea of how frequently one of my new service dogs in training is rewarded: eye contact, going into a down, remaining in a down, a fire truck outside, anytime a person walked by, the sound of a spray bottle as someone was cleaning a table, the sound of chairs moving, the sound of the door opening, seeing his reflection in the glass (I said Mack was a good boy, not that he is a rocket scientist 😂), going into the front position as I ordered, remaining in the front position, heeling as we went to a table to wait, and heeling as we walked out the door.
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09/04/2020

Last night Beni did a beautiful job settling while out to dinner with my family. He hardly moved a muscle underneath my chair and I am pretty sure almost no one even knew he was there! We went to Whole Foods afterward where he stayed in Heel position well, but his nose certainly was interested in the meat department as it was past his dinner time! He knows to not sniff items so he stuck his nose straight up in the air sniffing, which I technically haven’t told him isn’t allowed...but he knew that was the closest he was going to get to tasting anything!
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09/02/2020

“My name is Beni and I love my job so much that I tremble when my Mahm puts my vest on, because I’m getting to go work. So now she is making me take a nap at home in my vest to teach me to be less excited, and this is the biggest let down of my entire life”
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08/31/2020

Beni is continuing to practice his bringsel indication for scent discrimination tasks! He is doing so well with remembering to hold his bringsel when he smells the low sample, so now we have added all 5 containers. Next we will add the in range samples as distractors.
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However, not everything is always smooth sailing when it comes to scent training, and it can get vague and confusing even with something that seems like a simple task. To explain - Beni truly is doing well, but every few searches he will hold his bringsel preemptively, before smelling the correct container. So he’s just anticipating the bringsel hold to get to the cookie faster, right? Not necessarily. The scent of the low sample is moving in the air all throughout the room, and dogs’ scent detection skills are so much more sensitive than ours that Beni could be detecting the low sample already and therefore indicating that by holding his bringsel. In his mind he already smells it and certainly doesn’t need to go shove his nose into that little white container to smell it!
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And if that scenario was real life and not a training session, I do want him to alert when he detects the scent just in the air in case Bri is in another room and he can’t get to her. So what seems like a simple training task and a simple mistake on Beni’s part, could be not a mistake at all. So when I respond to his early bringsel indication that appears to be anticipation, I have to take that into consideration, balancing what I’d like him to do in this training session, with encouraging him to still alert based on air scenting in the future. And I will also structure future training sessions to further help clarify the difference for him!

08/15/2020

When you waltz into your local grocery store with a dog, you are going to be stared at and talked about, that’s just the reality of it. But, what isn’t mentioned much is that the breed of your service dog determines the type of attention you get in public.
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This could be a serious post on Pitt bull type dogs vs floppy eared dogs and public access challenges. And I’ll probably do one of those at some point, but this post isn’t that, that’s much too serious for a Saturday morning. Instead I want to talk about how very different types of people are drawn to different types of dogs!
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When I worked with miniature Golden Retrievers it was always females, often young adults or elderly, who loved the dogs - wanting to come up and tell me about their dog that looks just like mine (even if it was a daschund 😂) and about how beautiful my dog was.
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Nowadays, with both Mack the Labrador and Beni the Working Cocker, I get comments from adult or elderly men - usually from the country - saying what a “good lookin’ dog that is” or “that’s a great bird dog you got” 😂. And it’s the same with people who watch us walk through the store - if I have Mack or Beni then the old guys are typically the ones watching, but if I have a mini Golden it’s almost always the ladies! Good news Beni - despite people usually thinking you are a girl, you still appear to be a “guys dog” 😅.
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Photo credit: .otte

08/14/2020

Today is the day! The Puppy Steps book is free for anyone to download on Kindle! (You can also download it to read on your phone).
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Puppy Steps is the foundation for MD Dogs Diabetic Alert Dog training, and gives example training schedules, basic dog training theory without bogging you down with details, and lots of step by step instructions - all with illustrations of “Fido” throughout. It’s written to be extremely easy to follow and was originally intended to be for kids and teens to learn to train their own dogs!
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Puppy Steps is free until Midnight EST! The link is here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B08FBP881T/ref=cm_cr_arp_mb_bdcrb_top?ie=UTF8
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And if you download and enjoy it, I would LOVE if you would leave a rating or review to help Puppy Steps’ Amazon ranking...ideally to eventually be listed above all those puppy stairs for sale 😉.
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08/12/2020

He may look serious, but it’s all a facade - this boy was thrilled to be in public again!
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Service dogs certainly work hard - we ask them to be professional for hours on end, regularly go against their instincts, and constantly control their impulses. But when you properly train a service dog, you build a foundation so they thrive on this!
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I was talking with a client about the importance of training public access behavior before actually beginning public access trips - how this is partly to ensure our dog represents the service dog community well, but also is for the sake of our dog.
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Public spaces are just not made for dogs - there are carts rolling by, people carrying baskets not watching where they are going, small aisles, etc. Throwing a dog into that environment without preparing them is going to set them up for failure while also providing a negative example of all service dogs in training. And, almost more importantly, it is unkind to our dog to not train them for the public - without preparation it is a stressful event for them.
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Typically we do this solely due to excitement and with the best of intentions, but taking a dog in public too soon is actually similar to an old method of dog training - flooding. Trainers rarely use this method nowadays because it leads to an incredible amount of stress for the dog, so we certainly don’t want to do this with a service dog who we are asking to work for us for years to come in that environment! But by being intentional and starting with a few minutes at a time, training in pet friendly stores and exposing the dog gradually, we build their confidence and comfort in public spaces so they learn not only how to survive in those environments but how to thrive!
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Because Beni was trained this way, if he were to “lose his job” at this point, he would be devastated. When he sees me getting ready to leave the house he whines, spins, and jumps on the chair waiting for me to put his vest on - exactly the enthusiasm I want from a boy who is being asked to work for the next 6-10 years of his life! He can’t verbally tell me he wants to be a working dog, but he sure gets close!

08/09/2020

Friday was Beni and Bri’s first official transition training session! It involved countless cookies, snuggles, and fetches!
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Transition training is the period where I begin to teach the new handler how to work with the diabetic alert dog in training, and the dog begins to learn how to work for someone other than me. So we visited Bri’s house for the first time, which will eventually be Beni’s house, and began the transition. This is a long process to ensure the dog and the handler are confident and comfortable before being a full time team. It starts out with just a few hours or a single day, and slowly leads to sleepovers, multi-day visits, and eventually a week long stay.
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Friday was our first session with B&B, so we went over things like shaping vs luring vs forcing methods of dog training, Bri taught Beni a new trick with a hula hoop so she could learn how Beni learns, and we gave Beni the opportunity to alert to many scent samples as well as practice some live alerts on Bri. Our next session is only a week away where we will continue to help these two become a working DAD team!
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07/28/2020

A huge thank you to Maggie of for working with our boy this morning! When training a service dog for someone else, it’s important the dog can work with other handlers because their trainer is just temporary. Well, that isn’t Beni’s strength, he hasn’t gotten that memo yet 😬. So Beni went on a public access trip to Target with Maggie today to practice behaving appropriately and maintaining his professionalism even without me there.
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Some dogs’ behavior is heavily dependent on the person they are with - they are very relationship based. Beni is one of these dogs! I asked Maggie to work with him for an hour so he can learn that training is fun no matter who is with him, but also so he could generalize standards of behavior. I couldn’t ask just anyone to work with him because if I asked a non-dog trainer then he could potentially learn what we are working to prevent - professionalism is only required when Mahm is there. But because Maggie is a trainer and trained Pickles the Diabetic Alert Dog, this session taught Beni how to be confident and obedient no matter who is on the other end of the leash.
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The boy received a pretty good report as long as they were away from me - I was in the same store for a few minutes getting coffee and when they passed areas I had been in, Beni’s nose started twitching, he’d whine, and be a bit unprofessional which is not ideal. But when he wasn’t distracted by my scent and I left the building he did well! And he did alert Maggie on a hidden low sample which was wonderful practice for him! Hopefully more training trips with in the future to help prepare for this boy’s transition to Bri!
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07/24/2020

And for the 3rd year in a row my dogs have bestowed upon me the “Meanest Mahm of the Year” award.
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Beni is practicing his impulse control and “leave it” skills by laying on his bed, ignoring the torturous barricade of treats surrounding him. He definitely did some pouting but never even attempted to eat any cookies...my Border Collie on the other hand was grateful for the free snacks.
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While this exercise looks terribly mean and doesn’t seem necessary, for a service dog it is pretty similar to what they experience in every day life. These dogs have to lay down on top of those french fries that someone’s kid dropped, the crumbs that didn’t get swept up, and the various bits of food under restaurant tables. Service dog handlers don’t have time or the ability to clean up everyone else’s mess at every single location, so the dogs have to learn to ignore the tempting free snacks that could be dangerous for them or distract them from their jobs. This exercise gets Beni in the habit of remaining in a down stay calmly and confidently without sneaking snacks!

07/22/2020

“No shirt, no shoes, no service. Dats no problem, I qualifies Mahm!” -Beni.
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Beni went to Kroger with me and wore his boots to protect his feet from hot pavement and to practice walking comfortably in them. Shoes are still pretty new for Beni but he adapts incredibly well - he tends to walk a little faster with them on, excited by his new kicks 😉 So toward the beginning I had to slow him down a little, but only very slightly and he was quick to respond to all his commands and excited to be working, even with paw traps on!
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He was an excellent example of a service dog in training - while he was learning something new, he was absolutely still professional, inconspicuous, and focused on me throughout. To make sure he would represent service dogs and service dogs in training well, right before we entered Kroger we went to PetSmart with the boots on for a few minutes so I could double check he would be focused and responsive. If he had been distracted by the boots in PetSmart and not able to quite behave like a service dog in training should, I would have taken the boots off and gone to Kroger with him normally, then come back home and practiced more with the boots in a known environment. But this guy had no issues and was a lovely little representation, and certainly received quite a few comments!
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