Diabetic Alert Dog Training: How to collect saliva samples for training.
hey guys I’m Adam from top dog and we’re
doing another installment in our kind of
DIY diabetic alert dog training and
these videos are really designed to be
able to help not only our clients but
also anybody who’s watching to be able
to to know a little bit better and
understand a little bit better about
what goes into training a diabetic alert
dog and to help you along with that
process now one of the most important
keys to training a diabetic alert dog is
having the odor that we use on hand so
that we can train the dogs to alert to
that odor now what a diabetic alert dog
does just in a nutshell for those that
are brand news they are smelling your
blood sugar now a common misbelief or
misconception is that because they’re
smelling our blood sugar that we would
have to train using blood samples or
things like that in order to get the dog
to alert to those blood glucose events
that they need to alert to and that’s
not actually the case when a diabetic
has a low blood glucose event or a high
blood glucose event the chemistry in the
body actually affects other things not
just the blood it affects their saliva
their breath it affects well for those
of you that know a type one diabetic
personally it can make them it can
affect their mind they can start to slur
their speech or make them extremely
thirsty things like that and because it
affects all those things we’re able to
use saliva samples to train the dogs to
alert to these blood glucose events that
we want them to alert to now at our
facility what we train for is the
diabetic alert dog should alert to a
blood glucose event below 70 or above
300 so that’s the samples that we’re
collecting for and we need to collect
lots and lots of those lows because it’s
harder for the dogs to detect those so
we spend more time training with those
so here’s how you collect a sample so
that it can be used in a training
session first of all we use cotton
dental rolls they come in a pack like
this
they come out of the pack they look like
that you’ve probably seen them when you
get your wisdom teeth removed or
something along those lines any kind of
oral surgery or anything like that and
we use these because they do a good job
of kind of saturating or getting
saturated without leaving a bunch of
residue in your mouth some folks use
cotton balls or cotton swabs or things
like that and the problem we have with
that is a lot of our clients just don’t
like it it leaves a lot of little
stringy hairy feely things in your mouth
and nobody wants that
so step one of collecting a sample is
takes place off-camera that I already
did it before I started so starting with
clean hands you need to clean your hands
as best as possible and that’s really
really important and we also prefer that
you use unscented soap now believe it or
not that’s a little harder to find than
it might sound like and I actually
resorted to Amazon everything that I’m
showing you well I guess everything the
unscented soap and these swabs you can
find in a link down below through Amazon
because I want to make it easier for you
guys because I knew how hard it was to
find some of those things and now we’ve
got Amazon it makes it easier but I
still wanted to pinpoint you guys in the
right direction so first of all I start
with unscented hands so clean hands and
if you’re not using unscented answer but
at least rinse for a minute or two after
you’ve washed your hands to try to get
as much of that flowery or perfume you
odor off of your hands because we’re
trying to Train diabetic alert dogs not
these other flowery perfume I smell
detection dogs and if that’s going on to
the swab heavily you’re going to find
that the dog is going to really pick up
on that pretty easily dogs noses are so
amazing they pick up on the faintest
odor so we need to try to keep this as
clear of a picture as possible which is
why these steps are so important so step
one clean hands step two is to think
back over the last 30 minutes so if you
find yourself having a low blood glucose
event
Jack and you’re below 70 and you think
I’m going to collect some samples for my
training now you need to think back over
the last 30 minutes
have you eaten or drinking eating or
drank anything that might affect the way
that your mouth smells so if you’ve
eaten or drank in the last 30 minutes
you can’t collect a sample at that time
and that includes gum so water is okay
so does things like that though we’re
gonna go ahead and eliminate that so if
you drink water in the last 30 minutes
that’s going to be fun but any food or
anything like that that you’ve consumed
in the last 30 minutes we’re not going
to want to use that sample because again
the odor is just going to be too strong
it’s going to override the odor that
we’re trying to pinpoint for the dog so
I have an Adrian for 30 minutes I’ve
been chewing gum I’m good to go
so that’s when I take my sample pick it
up I’m going to put it in put it in my
cheek and I’m going to put one on each
side I’ve got a pretty big mouth so I
can do that not everybody can now the
important part is that I wait long
enough for that sample to get good and
saturated now once I’ve placed it in my
mouth I don’t touch it again I’m going
to spit it directly in the bag so for
those of you that are really squeamish
you might want to look away I felt gross
anybody out but I wait until it’s very
saturated now for those of you that when
you’re having a lot low blood glucose
event have a hard time generating saliva
you’re going to have to leave it in
there a little longer maybe swish it
around a little bit
because it needs to be very saturated
once it’s very saturated about 30
seconds or so
it’s going to go into the back again I
don’t touch it once it’s gone into my
mouth because whatever odor is on my
hands we’re trying to have the most
powerful odor on there being that odor
that we’re trying to help the dog
pinpoint so once it’s come out of my
mouth no more touching it I’m not going
to touch I’m going to spit it directly
into the back okay now you can do that
as many times as possible again most
folks are only able to get about five or
six swabs per low blood glucose event
because they’re just not generating a
lot of saliva so do it as many times as
possible
so that way you can stop by a little bit
in the initial training phase we’re
using three to four of these a day and
so we need to get a whole bunch of these
stock pulp for our training all right
we’ve got a couple in there now an
important part about our storage we
always use freezer bags sorry about that
little glitch there I didn’t realize
that the camera had actually shut off so
I’m going to come back in and rerecord
the end of the video and splice them
together now so the part where it cut
out I was just talking about the
importance of using freezer bags that’s
really important because you don’t want
to put all this work into collecting the
sample and doing it just right not
getting it contaminated and all that
only to have a free only to put it in
the freezer and it to get freezer burn
and be unusable so once you put it in
the bag squeeze all the air out of it
roll it up tight to get all that area
and then what you’re going to do and
this part is very important you’re going
to come back and you’re in a labeling
now the most important part of your
label is going to be the date I got to
tell you why here in just a second but
you’re going to start with your date
next you’re going to move to what level
your blood glucose was at and so we’re
going to pretend right now that I was at
65
finally you’re going to put your last
name this is a course for our clients
that are dropping them off here at the
facility and cozy at home won’t have to
do this
so you’re all done it should look
something like that with the date your
blood glucose level and your last name
on there again remember you can put five
or six samples in the back that’s not a
big deal you got that all labeled
properly you’re going to roll it up and
you’re going to double bag it
one freezer bag is not enough excuse me
so one freezer bag is not enough we’re
in a double budget again it’s worth the
extra few cents to use high-quality
freezer bags and a double bag just
because you’re putting all this work
into it no use of doing it if it’s going
to not be a useless we’ve got a double
bag and then usually as an extra
precaution I like to go ahead and put it
in some kind of Tupperware or a mason
jar with a lid something along those
lines once you’ve done that you’re good
to go you’re all done so a couple of
quick reminders wash your hands
unscented soap check the link down below
for that unscented soap on Amazon that
we use then you’re going to come in sit
down you’re going to go ahead and pop
those samples those swabs into your
mouth or dental rolls whatever you want
to call from there you’re going to make
sure that you don’t touch you spit
directly into the bag seal that bag up
get all the air out as much as possible
date it so then put that inside of
another freezer bag and then those can
go inside of a Tupperware a mason jar
something like that in your freezer now
the reason why I said the date was so
important earlier is because these
samples are good for about six months if
they sit unbothered in the freezer so if
you’re getting them out using them
frequently try to get them back in there
as quickly as possible on thaw refreeze
thaw refreeze all that stuff seems to
really mess them up so they’re good for
six months as long as they’re not
getting messed with too much in the
freezer you pull yours out to use for
training and you leave the rest in there
you
quickly then you should be good to go
sorry again we had another glitch so
once we’ve got the samples out then
they’re good for about three days of use
now what I mean by that is when we’re
doing like some of the mid phases of
training where we were using sent tins
and things like that those samples are
going to be good as long as we use them
they don’t get anything on them they
stay in their little sentence we put
them back in a ziplock and they go in
the fridge we’re not using them they
can’t stay out for 72 hours straight if
they’re in and out of the fridge
throughout the day they’re going to be
okay
but in the initial phases of training
like the puppy stuff that you see us do
the scent imprinting all that stuff
those samples are pretty much one-time
use because they’re getting food
particles on them and all kinds of other
stuff so they’re pretty much one-time
use and then we throw them away that’s
why we go through through so many in the
early stages so again make sure you’re
following these protocols so that way
you’re giving your dog is clear of a
picture as possible that’s really really
important if you’ve got all kinds of
other residue and stuff on your hands
while you’re doing this you’re gonna end
up with a dog that alerts to ham
sandwiches or whatever you just ate as
opposed to a dog that’s always
pinpointing that exact odor that we’re
supposed to thanks so much for watching
if you have any questions just give me a
call email me again read the description
down below for a few more instructions
and also the links to be able to buy
this stuff if you need to thanks again
and we’ll talk to you later
