Armstrong’s Dog House: Medical-Alert Assistance Dog Hollis

By Hollis (Chief Canine Ambassador), and Mark Ruefenacht’s trusted Dogs4Diabetics Medical-Alert Assistance Dog and Best Friend. 

Image Above: Hollis, Chief Canine Ambassador, posing with D4D’s life-size cut out of our Founding Dog, Armstrong.

Woof! Woof!

Thanks for catching up with Dogs4Diabetics (D4D) and for reading this great newsletter! Danielle turned her job of reporting our dog news over to me late last year… she is fully retired now and spending her days relaxing and enjoying time with family.

As for me, I spend a lot of time with Mark traveling as well as spending time at D4D to proof scents for our dogs-in-training. When I am out traveling with Mark we get a lot of questions about how we dogs support people with diabetes.

Mark gets to go a lot of places and spends a lot of time talking about doing things the right way, with attention to quality, setting standards, and making sure that the work we dogs do is done right.

He also believes in always innovating so we can continue to adapt to better serve our clients. He really believes in the work we dogs do for our diabetic partners and enjoys sharing our story with those he meets.

Some of the exciting changes taking place at D4D include finding new ways to help people with diabetes. When new clients are interviewed, the staff talks to each one individually to figure out how we dogs can be helpful.

Chief Canine Ambassador, Hollis, helping our first rescue dog, Bandit, from Tony La Russa’s Animal Rescue Foundation, overcome his fear of dogs.

So, we could be trained to tell our clients about changing blood sugars, both lows and highs. We can also listen for CGM alarms or go get testing equipment or treats.

And one of the things I think is great is to help young children get through finger pricks or putting on pumps and CGMs. Being a distraction for kids that need that help simply means giving love on command! What a great job!

Also, I hope that you have been keeping up with the additional dog news about Bandit and Newton, two cute little guys that came to D4D from ARF. We are looking forward to seeing them learn all their obedience skills and commands. Then they can start training on scent and other tasks so they can work with one of our humans that would like a smaller dog. They are a lot of fun to have around. They are rescued by ARF in order to give them a new shot at a life, but little did they know what great lives they will live in the future, helping someone with diabetes. “Homeless to Hero Canines”.

Stay tuned, with our new training center and the new dogs and clients coming into the program, we will be doing more every day… we hope to see you soon! Woof, Hollis!

Medical-Alert Assistance Dog, Dogs4Diabetics, Service Dog

Hollis listens intently for his boarding call while at the Salt Lake International Airport.

Medical-Alert Assistance Dog, Dogs4Diabetics, Service Dog

Hollis and Mark on a road trip and just passed from Idaho to Utah.

Medical-Alert Assistance Dog, Dogs4Diabetics, Service Dog

Chief Canine Ambassador, Hollis, watched the Puppy Bowl and cheered on the underdog from Washington, D.C. with his human, Mark.

Christy Gillham, Dogs4Diabetics, Service Dog, Diabetic Alert Dog, Kibble From The Corner Office