Diabetic Alert Dog Delivered to Woman Walla Walla, Washington

Walla Walla, Washington, August 11, 2017 (Newswire.com) - Tracee, a Type 1 Diabetic for over 35 years, received a very special placement of her own Diabetic Alert Dog from Service Dogs By Warren Retrievers this week. Based out of Madison, Virginia, Service Dogs By Warren Retrievers, or more commonly known as “SDWR,” places custom trained and bred service dogs for individuals with invisible disabilities like Diabetes, Autism, PTSD, and Seizure Disorders. With nearly 1,000 families actively enrolled or waiting for their service dog placement, SDWR has a mission to bring each a life-saving service dog.  Tracee’s new service dog, Winston, will be expected to perform necessary tasks to assist her diabetes diagnosis.

Winston, a Labrador Retriever Diabetic Service Dog, recently graduated from the SDWR Service Dog Raiser program. During his training, Winston received several thousand hours of training with both volunteers and professional trainers to equip him for working service dog life. With the assistance of a certified SDWR trainer, Winston will continue to develop his skills to serve Tracee with actions like alerting to high and low blood sugar, dialing 911 on a special device during emergencies, and increasing her independence.

Tracee is an on campus counselor at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington. She has lived with Type 1 Diabetes and Hyperthyroidism for more than half of her life. When asked about her decision to receive a Diabetic Alert Dog, Tracee says, “I have had diabetes for 35 years. No one can see it...but every minute of every day, it holds me captive. If I am going to stay healthy and alive, I can't ignore my disease.”

SDWR uses a proprietary scent training method to teach Diabetic Service Dogs to detect fluctuations in blood sugar that fall outside of a handler’s healthy range. Since Winston is a service dog and covered under laws in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, he will be able to accompany Tracee everywhere including work and other public spaces.

In the coming 18 months, SDWR will return to Tracee’s home 3-4 times to continue working on Winston’s customized training and public access certification. This certification can only be given to Winston’s handler, Tracee, after a progression of hard work and dedication to the SDWR training program.

SDWR has been utilizing the placement and return training method for nearly a decade and received positive results with families worldwide. The organization strives to place dogs with families based on their unique personalities to facilitate a strong bond and positivity-based training method. SDWR requires no travel by handlers to custom-train a service dog and instead sends trainers to their homes on a set schedule. This ensures the dogs learn all the custom commands in the environment in which they will be expected to work.

Service Dogs by Warren Retrievers is a non-profit organization based in Madison, Virginia, and relies on donations to help the Organization in its mission, “Until there’s a cure … there’s a dog.”

To make or donation or learn more about SDWR, please visit the website, http://www.sdwr.org.

To learn more about Autism Service Dogs visit http://www.sdwr.org/service-dogs/autism.

To find out how you can volunteer as a puppy raiser visit http://www.sdwr.org/volunteer-opportunities.

Source: Service Dogs By Warren Retrievers