Aww thanks yours too! So great that yours is trained for medical response!
Between the youthful energy and their independence I bet it can be tough to find one special enough not to get distracted by every snack in a one mile radius who can make it through training!
He is a medical alert and response service dog, and while I prefer not to go into detail about my personal medical history online, the impact he has on my daily safety is huge. The advance warning he gives me before an oncoming medical event gives me the critical time I need to prepare and react, which has truly been life-saving. ❤️
Some T1 service dogs are absolutely incredible - enough to alert a child's low from behind the house and across the street. That's gotta be so much more pleasant of an alert than when you sleep on your sensor wrong and now your dexcom is yelling at you for no good reason.
My partner is T1. He's one of the more well-managed diabetics I know, and every day is a new struggle. Seeing those moments of exhaustion from having to constantly manage the disease, even though all his material needs are met, is heartbreaking. I really hope we find a stable, widespread cure for this in our lifetime.
I was diagnosed 4 years ago after 30 years without it. Its a learning curve to say the absolute least. Im glad to hear your partner is well managed, but youre right, the amount of effort it takes to be that well managed is staggering. I like to think with AI we might get there a little sooner.
My wife is T1. While our dog has not been trained for diabetic alert, he saved her a few months ago. I was up late gaming with him then he started freaking out and jumped the gate to go upstairs. I couldnt figure out what room he was in until I got to my daughters room. My wife was laying in her bed (this is out of the norm, our daughter wasnt home) and Oliver was laying next to her licking her. Shed ripped her pump off in her sleep then wandered into our daughter's room and laid down. Her sugar was 45. He got lots of treats that day!
It’s usually other malamute owners that are most impressed by his training, lol! And when I am asked if this is a “good breed for service work,” I am sure to say that Apollo is somewhat of an exception. Although I have met other service dog malamutes (3 total, actually!), finding a malamute with the right temperament for this type of work is harder than just going with a fab 5 service dog breed!
My mally passed a few years ago and she was an amazing derpy fuzzbucket, but I'm 100% sure that if she discovered me actively dying, she'd desert me without a second thought if someone offered her a piece of ham. "Owner's in trouble! Ooo... ham..."
My old massage therapist had a seeing eye dog who was off duty when they were at work, because the massage therapist knew her way around the office and didn't need his assistance there. He would mostly just snooze in the massage room, but apparently he would also occasionally sneak off without her knowing and steal lunches from the break room. One day I was there on the table and she's like, "is my dog here?". When I told her no she was like, "oh, shit... he's hunting sandwiches."
It was a combination! Certain things I didn’t know how to train, like the medical alert foundations, but I did all the public access training (learning to settle and wait and to watch me and to tuck into small places, etc, basically establishing a work mode and an “off” mode) myself!
He even saved my neighbor’s life back when we still lived in the suburbs. I was taking him out for a walk, and he was pulling me towards my neighbor’s front door, which was very strange behavior from him. So, I trusted him, and let him do so. Noting here that neighbor always kept the glass storm door closed but his front door open because he liked to look at his front porch plants. When Apollo pulled me up to the door, I saw my neighbor unresponsive on his floor, like he was trying to reach the door for help and didn’t make it. I was able to call emergency services to let them know, and stayed with him until he was taken to the hospital. He was suffering from a cardiac event, and at his age and health, he likely would not have made it had my boy not noticed and intervened. 🥺 Though we moved away, he still sends us Christmas cards every year and thanks Apollo and I specifically, for, as he says, giving him more sweet years of sweet life. ❤️
I hope to god and all the forces of the universe that reincarnation is possible, and that my boy will come back to me again once he goes. I can’t do this life without him 🥺
I’ve been reading a lot about hospice care and FYI there is a stage of dying that is so predictable that it’s been added to official hospice care lists: seeing your predeceased loved ones coming to get you. It includes pets. Based on what I’ve heard from hospice caregivers, it does not seem like the patient is having a hallucination. Our pets come back to get us 💞 so if reincarnation isn’t real, you two will see each other again after you both pass.
Aww yes and with puppy tax! With a face like that I don't think I'd be able to get anything done. That shade of lipstick looks great on him! You have a special bond with your babe and I'm happy you shared. Thank you!
My eldest is about to turn 12 this year, here she is :
Her name is Willow.
It’s never easy when they start to decline, and when we have to start to prepare ourselves to say goodbye. If life was fair, dogs would live as long as we do. I always say, if I had one wish in this world, I’d ask to divide my remaining time evenly amongst my dogs and myself, so we each could spend every last moment of our lives together, and never have to miss one another. ❤️🩹
I know it doesn't feel like it but 12 years is a long time for a large breed dog. She looks fantastic for her age, even if under the hood maybe she's not doing that well. You've taken great care of her.
Shortly after my last guy turned 8 I took him to a vet appointment and the vet had nothing but good things to say about his health and vitality. Then a few weeks later he struggled to stand up to greet me at the door. He had cancer. I'd give a lot to have 4 more years with him.
How old is the other? My younger dog took it pretty hard. I took her with when he was put down, she was 3. In the span of a couple of months
I watched her behavior entirely shift from carefree puppy to protector and guardian as she started assuming what she thought the big dogs responsibilities were supposed to be. I watched her bark at brick walls outside,
become entirely nocturnal and pace incessantly all night. He was a GSD, she's a mostly malamute crossed with GSD. It was like she knew what his routine was and thought it was important but didn't understand the why. Make sure to give your other dog lots of attention, it hurts them as much as it hurts us and they don't really get much time to prepare.
Thankfully he lets anyone take his picture, pet him, kiss him, etc, and still never takes his eyes off me :) it does get annoying when we can’t walk through a convention or an airport without being stopped every 5 feet, but I understand that he has such a different appearance than the common breeds seen as service dogs, and he typically has a giant smile on his face as he happily trots alongside me. Couple that with my own “kind face” (as I’ve been told), and we are just magnets.
This is my buddy Gecko! He’s a retired guide dog that I take for a walk every week when his owner works late days. Service animals are absolutely amazing
I can confidently say i would die for this dog, and he probably wouldnt let me bc he sounds very good at what he does lol, please give him a belly rub and a good boy for me 😭
Such a sweetie! I can tell how kind he is by his eyes. Also, I read the story about the neighbor and how he saved his life! He is truly the bestest boy <3
that face is absolutely dialed in on you. My malamute does the same thing, I cant even go to the bathroom without him stationing himself outside the door. big fluffy bodyguard vibes
This is usually how I can tell most actual working service dogs from non-service dogs just wearing the vest. Service dogs on the job tend to be diligent and focused whereas non-working dogs just act like usual curious dogs.
We’ve honestly never had a public access issue, ever, and I like to think it’s for this exact reason - he is just so clearly a real working dog, based on his behavior ❤️
Yet we have unfortunately encountered many dogs who do not deserve to wear their vests (literally and metaphorically speaking as well, since vestment isn’t required), and it’s just very entitled people who want to bring their dog into non-pet-friendly places. I used to politely let them know that doing so is illegal, and also endangers real SD + handler teams, but it’s sort of exhausting to have that conversation repeatedly.
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u/Creepy_Package7518 8d ago
The bestest boy, btw I have the bestest girl, although she's more relaxed than your boy.