Homeschool Happenings: Mazie is officially an Adrenal Insufficiency Service Dog

Mazie will be 2 years old in March 2019. She is a labradoodle from Novacek's 84 Labradoobles. One of the major reasons that the dogs from the Novacek's are such natural alerters for Adrenal Insufficiency is that Amy Novacek herself has Adrenal Insufficiency. When new litters are born the puppies are exposed from day one to the scent emitted by Amy's Adrenal Insufficiency. Amy herself has two working service dogs, Hank and Buddy. Hank became a natural alerter for Amy's AI and has gone on to be a huge help for Amy in fighting her AI. On a side note, Mazie actually naturally alerted for one of my daughters in the middle of the night before she was officially scent trained. Okay, back to the beginning of getting Mazie. We were blessed to be a part of Mazie's life from the very beginning. We were able to travel to the Novacek Ranch to look over all of the puppies and choose which puppy would be ours. Fairly quickly were knew which puppy we wanted. Mazie was off in a corner by herself. She was smaller than the other puppies. She was on the calmer side. Her coloring was unique in that she was black but had brown paws. She was in our eyes the cutest one of the litter. Maybe we were a bit partial but then again it was kind of love at first site. For the first 9 months of her life, she lived with an amazing family, the Richard's, who loved on her and worked day and night on obedience training. Miriam Richard took Mazie on many outings such as the mall, zoo, state fair, museum, sporting events, movies, etc. early on to get Mazie used to being around crowds and different environments. She exposed her to a plethora of sounds, people, objects, environments, and situations at an early age so that Mazie would learn to not become reactive to these things. They also began basic scent training with Maize. During this time, we would visit Mazie so that we would be able to bond with Mazie and she would be able to bond with us. During this time a dog trainer was used to help with Mazie's training.

Here is a picture of Mazie as a puppy.

At around 9 ½ months old, Mazie came to live with us. It was an exciting time but also a scary time too. It was a bit like bringing home a new baby. I had a dog as a child, but we really did not know much about dogs and their needs. Our initial trainer helped to guide us as we continued to train Mazie on our own. After about 10 months it was clear that change was needed. We realized that in order for Mazie to become a full-fledged Adrenal Insufficiency Service Dog we needed to seek out a trainer who specialized in training dogs for Adrenal Insufficiency. While a lot can be accomplished "owner trained" Adrenal Insufficiency is a bit more complex. We wanted to ensure that Mazie had the specialized training to ensure that she could and would alert for my two daughters that have AI when they have issues. This required consistency, a lot of time, and the right training. That is where Beverly Swartz came into our lives. She is the owner of All Purpose Canines, Inc.. Mazie is a recent graduate and is now home working for both of my daughters and ALERTING! We still have to practice using scent articles from past Adrenal crises a couple of times a day. As many know, unlike diabetes where your blood sugar is constantly going up and down each day, those with AI may go long gaps without having a crisis. Therefore, it is important to keep past scent articles available to train with your dog in order to ensure that their training is being reinforced. The scent article is hidden on the person with AI. The dog alerts and then you treat the dog and give the dog lots of praise for a job well done. In a real-life situation building up to a crisis they have potentially averted a crisis. Or maybe, saved your life!

Here are some pictures of Mazie working to pass her Public Access Test the last step before becoming an Official Service Dog. We are so very proud of her.

Mazie making herself at home at the hotel.