*Pickles has been placed with his new handler as of January 3rd, 2020.

Sit Stay Lex was created with the intent to give private lessons to pet owners and has recently expanded into the service dog industry. Sit Stay Lex’s Head Trainer, Maggie, has trained over 50 Comfort Retrievers in basic obedience and even though this is her first D.A.D. in training, she is carefully following the guidance of Libby Rockaway’s teachings (M.D. dogs and Libby’s Loving Leashes founder). The puppies Maggie has trained have gone to loving families everywhere from Los Angeles to Dubai.

A unique and important part of Maggie’s training a D.A.D. is the dog being completely involved in the daily activities of Maggie’s life. This gives the service dog insight into the structure of a home and important real world experiences. Currently, Maggie is attending the University of Kentucky, so the service dog will have access to evolve to the chaos of campus. Maggie also lives in downtown Lexington, Kentucky, only a handful of blocks away from campus. This gives the dog lots of opportunity to be around the busy atmosphere of a city. The dog must be comfortable with sirens, traffic, people, bikes, and buses so that he always stays focused on his job as a D.A.D.

Maggie is currently training the D.A.D. to alert by pawing when handler’s blood sugar is low. All scent training methods used to train Pickles are from M.D. dog, a non-profit organization that gives individual the information needed to train your own Diabetic Alert Dog, and all the information is free (If you are unable to purchase a fully trained D.A.D, please reach out to me and I will happily guide you to this organization). Currently, the dog will alert to highs and lows by pawing and/or holding a bringsel. This gives the dog the opportunity to alert when they are unable to paw. The highs and lows that the dog is currently working at learning is 88 and below and 170 and above. Due to Maggie not being a diabetic, her blood glucose level rarely goes below 85, this led her to picking 88 as a threshold for the D.A.D. This number is easily adjusted for future type 1 diabetic handler. Dogs are extremely adaptable.

Maggie’s goal for this D.A.D is to give comfort to a type 1 diabetic who is struggling. Specifically, she is wanting to aid a type 1 diabetic who is on a continuous glucose monitor(C.G.M) and is unable to feel their lows. The reason for this specific criteria is, D.A.D’s are not a replacement for C.G.M’s. The goal is for the dog and C.G.M to work together to combat the daily struggles that type 1 diabetics deal with. Many type 1 diabetics have seen better numbers in their A1C after training or purchasing a Diabetic Alert Dog.

Currently, Maggie is only placing her D.A.D within driving distance of Lexington, Kentucky and Atlanta, Georgia. Other locations will be considered, but additional financial compensation may be required.

If interested in following Pickles daily activity, check out his Instagram @pickledperfect_sdit (or click on the icon below) His Instagram is filled with his training, public access, alerts and his goofy personality!