My little hero K9 is 7 years old today, time as just flew by it only seems like yesterday I was picking him up from the breeder.
Happy Birthday K9. Tina, I'd love to know how he became your alert dog. Was he just a natural, or was there some training involved? Does he qualify for an assistance dog vest?
Both he picked up something was wrong when he was a puppy, so had him fully trained, he sometimes wears his diabetic/epileptic alert vest but most places I take him to now know him so if very hot I don't bother with it, I just slip his id number in sleeve on lead.
Thanks for that - I've always wondered how they do it. There is a Beagle, Cliff, at a hospital in the Netherlands who is able to detect the Clostridium Difficile bug. He goes into the waiting room and sits by any affected patients. His accuracy is said to be 80%. Dogs are so clever when they are allowed to develop their talents.
They are now training Beagles to detect cancer, plus using them more as hearing dogs. I have seen my first Rottweiler guide dog yesterday, he was a real beauty
It is great to hear of breeds performing work that they are not usually associated with. It is not so many years ago that Rottweilers were being demonised in the just same way that Bull breeds are now, It's a pity we can't have a Dangerous People Act ........
Like me they paid for their Rottweiler to be trained, he was very gentle & walked slowly, the owner only went blind last year & his Rottie was only 14 months old so he had him trained (there's an 5 year waiting list in some areas for guide dog) another thing I liked about the Rottie was he never had head halti on which I am seeing more & more on the traditional Labradors & Golden Receivers guide dogs wearing along with their harness.