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.

11/16/2020

Gotcha Day - more will be shared later, but as of November 15, 2020, Beni has finished transition training and is now a member of the Garcia family. Congratulations, my Sprout. You did it!

Gotcha Day ❤️

11/06/2020

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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10/10/2020

After not seeing each other for 1.5 months Bri and Beni are off to a great start. When they saw each other it was like they never skipped a beat.

Transition training is going well and Beni’s alerting accuracy is pretty impressive. At one point Beni alerted Bri of a low blood sugar before her dexcom even caught it. Beni’s alert allowed Bri to take action and treat her low before dropping too much. Fortunately Beni caught it before it became severe and even though Bri wasn’t feeling well because of the low it could’ve been worse if we didn’t have Beni and his ability to alert us. Bri even said she felt safer because he was by her side.

This transition has been filled with lots of laughs (because Beni is such a funny boy), gratitude and even a few tears. It’s one thing to hear about these amazing heroes but it’s another to have one in your home watching over your girl. Even though we still have some things to practice we’re so proud of these two.

If you in any way shape or form contributed to this journey....Thank you!

📸LLLeashes LLC

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!