Our Story
It all started when a friend of mine asked why I had not yet made Korey an Instagram account. I instantly made him one, as well as a TikTok account. Fast forward a few weeks, and our videos went viral! Now, I am living my dream of being a dog and service dog trainer!
Hi! My name is Sam. I was diagnosed with Type One Diabetes at the age of 4. Starting in my early 20’s, my diabetes became more and more challenging for me to manage. I stopped feeling when my blood sugar began to go too high or too low until it was at a dangerous level. About 8 years ago, I got my first CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitor) that will alarm if your blood sugar reaches a certain level. However, my CGM is often faulty, as technology is, and both my husband Michael and I are deep sleepers and we do not hear the alarms at night. There were several nights when Michael was unable to wake me up, because my blood sugar had gone too low. Fortunately, each time he was able to get enough sugar in me to where I could become conscious. After several of these scares, we knew we had to change something. Speaking with my endocrinologist (diabetes doctor), we came up with the solution of getting a Diabetic Alert Dog (DAD).
Korey came into our lives in July of 2019. He was just two months old, but we had already been getting to know him since the day he was born. We found a breeder who breeds “working” Labrador Retrievers who have a history of good scent training, who knew how important it was for me to have a DAD. She let us meet Korey a week after he was born, and I was able to bond with him since he was just a tiny pup!
Because I have always loved dogs and have been successful in training Korey to be my service dog, I decided to become a certified, positive reinforcement dog trainer. Dogs have always been a huge part of my life, having grown up with them, and becoming a dog trainer is one of my proudest accomplishments. Now I am able to help people train their puppies and dogs using positive reinforcement techniques, and am also able to help those with Type 1 Diabetes and other diagnosis who want to train their own dog as service dogs.