Diabetic Alert Dogs of America

​I can’t recommend Diabetic Alert Dogs of America enough! They truly care about finding the right fit for your lifestyle. As someone who works out daily, they specifically trained my dog, Willow, to be calm in a busy gym environment. Shelby spent two hours on the phone with me answering every question I had as a first-time service dog owner. While they are busy (because the staff are also the trainers!), the undivided attention you receive is worth the wait. It’s clear this is a passion for them, not just a business. Willow is a lifesaver!

I would strongly caution anyone considering this organization for a service dog. My daughters DAD was not properly trained for public access work. Dexter is extremely reactive to his environment, easily startled, and shows clear fear in everyday situations that a service dog should be confident navigating. Instead of being calm and neutral in public, he becomes overwhelmed, which makes it unsafe and stressful to bring him into stores or other environments where a service dog is expected to perform reliably. At home, we also experienced significant issues. He displayed destructive behaviors, including chewing furniture, which is not something you expect from a fully trained service dog. These are basic training and temperament concerns that should have been addressed before placement. While he has some ability to alert, that alone does not make him a fully trained service dog. Public access skills, stability, and temperament are critical—and those pieces are missing. We paid a substantial amount of money expecting a dog that was fully prepared to support a child with medical needs. Instead, we were left with a dog that requires extensive additional training and is not currently able to safely or reliably perform as a service animal in public. This experience has been incredibly stressful and disappointing. Families relying on a service dog deserve a dog that is confident, well-trained, and truly ready for the role. I would not recommend this organization.

Almost $20,000 gone and taken from our 1 year old with type one diabetes. From the beginning we were told lies. We were sold a hope, but received a nightmare. We were desperate parents, desperate for help with our 1 year old with type one diabetes. We were promised a life saving dog that would alert us when our daughters glucose was high or low, instead we received a dog that alerts whenever she feels to get attention. The website promises they "specialized" in night alerts. The dog has not once night alerted and we have had her back for almost half a year. The dog alerts all day just to recieve attention and treats. Causing unnecessary glucose poke checks to our daughter, who now crys when the dog alerts because she knows she is fine and does not want more finger pokes. After our 3 month waiting period we brought the dog back for a training day. The dog false alerted 4 times during this day and the company still refuses to take ownership of their faulty training. They are refusing any type of small refund unless we "return" the dog that wasn't theirs to start with. We brought our own 4 month old Golden Doodle our friend donated to our daughter to help with cost. (They took off 2,500 of the 20,000). The dog was mistreated while she was there. Constantly kept ungroomed and not cared for. When we recieved her back from the so called "training" she had an infection where her spay took place. The dog has showed aggression in public which she never did before and is scared of everyone. We dropped off a fun loving teddy bear of a dog, but in return recieved an aggressive scared dog who false alerts all day and has NEVER NIGHT ALERTED even when my daughter got down to the 60s. We were desperate sleep deprived parents who were taken advantage of. The dog is going to live with my brother now so she can be a normal dog. After the lies I've been told to my face from this company and the abuse we have seen first hand, I would never trust them with a dog again. Now we are down $17,000 that could have gone towards our daughters medications, her collage fund or even more Pixels for our home that have helped 10X more then the so called "service" dog. Please, do not give this company your money. Sincerely, A tired sleep deprived Mama who doesn't want another family taken advantage of. Update: The dog has lived with my brother for over three months now. The so called "trained" dog that cost as much as a vehicle "alerts" my non diabetic brother everyday when she wants attention. She does not allow the vet to cut her nails (we had the same issue) and poops everywhere when she is in a new location (also an issue we had). Further proof that this company taught her to alert for treats and not glucose readings. Our fun loving pup was mistreated and its an unfortunate horrible situation. Thankfully she is happy with my brother. Stress in our house has gone down. The dog was a nightmare for our sweet baby girl. Again, please do not let this company take your money as they did ours. They are greedy money hungry people who mistreated our poor dog which turned into unnecessary harm to our daughter and added unneeded stress in our home.

We haven't received our dog yet but I wanted to give a review as to what I've experienced so far working with DADA. 1. It does take time for communication. Many of the staff members are out training or delivering the dogs. 2. Patience is key. This is not a short process as it takes time to find a dog and then train the dog. We had hoped to get a dog sooner however they were very honest that the dog we wanted initially was not a good fit for our son. 3. The dog you choose matters. Let's be honest. Not every dog can be a working dog. The dogs that are listed on the application happen to be the best fit for alerting. 4. Price. This is an investment. Everyone talks about price. For a Diabetic Alert Dog DADA is on the lower end. No one is trying to take your money and run. They have been very honest throughout our entire process. And offer lifetime training. 5. Updates. Once you've been matched with your dog they give weekly updates pictures and video of your dog being trained and how well they are doing. Again tranceperancy is given. 6. Remember this is a working dog. There are rules in place for a reason. If you treate it like a regular pet it will start acting like one. I am thankful to DADA for all their hard work and can't wait for my son's Dog to arrive.

Excellent service!!!! From the first phone call to the delivery and follow up our family was treated like family. Our first dog match failed the training program and Shelby was open and honest about what happened and we were quickly matched with another dog. We were bummed at first because of the delay but so thankful for their honesty and transparency. After receiving the final delivery we now know why they have such strict guidelines on their training requirements. Our dog is absolutely amazing and we could have not asked for better service. We highly recommend Diabetic Alert Dogs of America. We are so happy we stuck with the process!! Thank you so much for such a truly life changing tool for our son’s diabetes.