06/02/2026
🐾💚 Lucky is only 7 months old and already showing us just how incredible he is going to be as a future Diabetic Alert Dog for Cate. 💚🐾
Today’s training session was such a HUGE milestone for this young boy and honestly one of those moments that reminds me exactly why I love doing what I do.
We decided to challenge Lucky by taking him to an entirely NEW location that he has never trained in before. New environments are extremely important for service dog training because dogs cannot only work perfectly at home or in familiar places — they have to learn how to work anywhere and everywhere. Stores, parks, schools, restaurants, events, busy sidewalks… life is unpredictable and so is the world around them.
To make things even more challenging, we had THREE completely new people standing around us, talking, asking questions, moving around, and being wonderfully distracting. And honestly? That was AMAZING. 👏
A lot of dogs can work in quiet controlled environments. The true test is whether they can push through distractions, confusion, movement, smells, noises, and pressure while still doing their job confidently. Watching Lucky work through all of that at only 7 months old was something special to see.
At the beginning of the video, you can see us showing Lucky exactly what we are working on for the day. I absolutely LOVE his enthusiasm and excitement to work. He is not being forced to do this. He genuinely LOVES using his nose and solving the puzzle. That drive and passion is something you cannot fake and something we absolutely look for in medical alert work.
We hid Cate’s diabetic scent in THREE different locations around the area and surrounded those hides with tons of other distracting scents and objects. New environment, new smells, new people, and multiple hides… yet Lucky still locked in and got to work. Watching his nose start moving and seeing him process odor is one of my favorite things. Dogs truly are incredible.
When you hear us say “Get to work,” that is Lucky’s cue to begin searching for the scent. When we say “Check,” we are asking him to go back and recheck the source odor. One of my favorite moments in this session was watching Lucky go BACK to the scent even after I was done asking because he was just THAT enthusiastic and confident about his find. That excitement is exactly what we want.
In the middle of the video, you’ll notice I am sitting down with the scent clearly out in the open. This portion is extremely important because we are working on building Lucky’s INDICATION behavior. An indication is how the dog communicates to the handler that they have found the odor.
For Cate, this alert could truly become life-saving one day.
I want Lucky to confidently tell her:
“Hey, something is wrong.”
“I smell your diabetic change.”
“You need to pay attention.”
Whether that indication becomes a paw, bark, jump, or another clear alert behavior, the goal is for Lucky to make it impossible for Cate to miss. Right now he is learning that finding odor is important, but ALERTING his person is even more important. And he is doing SUCH an amazing job learning how to communicate that.
One thing people do not always realize about service dogs is that training is not just obedience. It is confidence building. Problem solving. Environmental exposure. Relationship building. Engagement. Communication. Focus. Recovery from distractions. All while still allowing the dog to LOVE what they are doing.
And then comes my favorite part… the PLAY ritual at the end. 🎾🐾
You will see us playing with Lucky after training to let him know:
“YOU DID AMAZING.”
“Training is over.”
“You crushed it today.”
Play is such an important part of training because it builds engagement, confidence, relationship, and motivation. Dogs that love to work and love their handler stay more focused and more invested in the job. We want Lucky to think training is the BEST game in the world.
Watching this little 7 month old puppy continue to grow into what will one day hopefully become a life-saving partner for Cate is truly incredible. He has such a bright future ahead of him and we are so proud of how far he has already come. 💚🐾
If you would like to help support Lucky on his journey home to Cate and help us continue providing this life-changing training, please consider donating. Every single donation helps cover training, supplies, travel, exposure outings, medical alert scent work, and everything that goes into preparing a service dog for their future handler. We truly could not do this without the support of our amazing community, and every share, donation, and encouraging comment means more than you know. ❤️🐾
⬇️ Donation Link Below ⬇️
https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/bring-sunny-and-lucky-home
