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BLAIRSVILLE, Pa. (AP) — Five-year-old Eli Michel loves to share a hug with his best buddy, Murphy, but others who see the Blairsville boy on an outing with his canine companion shouldn't expect to engage in a similar affectionate greeting with the dog.
The boy's mother, Nicol Michel, explained that the 8-month-old Golden Retriever-poodle mix (or Goldendoodle) is being trained as a service dog to assist her son with management of his Type I diabetes and can't be distracted from his potentially life-saving task.
Murphy is in training to be a service dog, which is marked on the blue vest he wears. Nicol Michel noted such dogs should be touched only by their handlers. "People should not distract them by calling out to them, whistling, clapping their hands or offering them treats," she said. "These dogs are working."
Murphy is about four months into an anticipated 18-month course of training that should make him able to provide an alert, by barking, when Eli's blood sugar level strays outside of a safe zone between about 70 milligrams per deciliter and 180 mg/dL.
Nicol Michel explained that Murphy should be able to smell a sweetness on her son's breath when his blood sugar level is high and an acidic scent when his level is low — which can cause weakness and shakiness and, if not corrected, a seizure and even death.
"If it's below 70, he has to have some sugar in him immediately," she said of her son's blood sugar reading.
To make sure Murphy picks up on that crucial level, she plans to train the dog using a sample obtained by swabbing her son's mouth when his blood sugar dropped to 70 mg/dL.
Working around her schedule as a married mother of three and part-time speech therapist at a nursing home, Michel takes Murphy to weekly training sessions at Musico's K9 Academy near Murrysville. For now, she is working with Murphy to obtain his Canine Good Citizen certification, noting he is not aggressive with humans but needs more work on interacting appropriately with other dogs.
"He has issues with dogs and bunny rabbits,"?she said. "Anything smaller than him he wants to automatically chase.
"He's a very good dog, but he's still learning."
?Michel, nevertheless, said she's found it difficult to walk Murphy along the streets of Blairsville without being chased by other dogs that aren't properly leashed.
She and Murphy now have a new place to train. Thanks to a recent vote by the Blairsville-Saltsburg School Board, she has been able to arrange sessions when she can bring Murphy inside Blairsville Elementary School, where Eli will attend first grade in the fall.
She said it's important for both her and Murphy to become familiar with the environment and conditions at the school because her goal is for the dog to accompany her son to school on a daily basis by the time he enters second grade.
"We are looking at school training this year with me as the handler and independent entry into the school by fall of 2016," she said. She noted she'll be working to gradually transfer training skills so that Murphy, in addition to heeding her verbal and visual cues, also will obey commands from her son and his teacher— and other officials at the school if need be.
"This is a monumental task for me to make sure Murphy is prepared for school and will respond to Eli and his teacher," she acknowledged.
Adding to the challenge is the fact that Murphy, who is still growing, already weighs about 55 pounds and is expected to be as big if not bigger than his young master a year from now.
Michel already has made one basic adjustment after training with Murphy for less than an hour in the school's main lobby and hallway. She said she's prompting the dog to walk more slowly so he doesn't slide on the school's smooth flooring.
Murphy also will need to learn how to accompany her son into the rest room and "where he needs to sit in the classroom, what's appropriate and what's not appropriate," she said.
According to Michel, Murphy already is used to taking his meals before and after school hours and is trained to eliminate waste on command. Yet to be determined, she said, are such details as how Murphy might be given breaks for water or possibly a brief walk outside during the school day.
Michel noted there are no other dog handlers in her training group at Musico's who have experienced a similar situation and could offer her advice.
"Everyone who trains service dogs is usually training them for adults, so I'm kind of walking a new plank here," she said. "I'm still learning myself."
It's also a new situation for Blairsville-Saltsburg officials, who are working to revise the district's policy concerning service dogs in order to accommodate Eli's circumstance while also respecting the educational needs of other students.
School director Rick Harper, who has championed the Nichols' request to engage their dog in in-school training, noted the current district policy doesn't address the possibility of a service dog coming into a classroom.
Pointing out that such a dog must not be aggressive or disruptive, Harper said the district would work with Nicol Michel "so we can create a policy that protects the school but enables the dog to be properly trained.
"We will also be training the teachers and especially the students how to react and behave around a working dog. I feel we owe it to every child to create a safe and comfortable learning atmosphere."
Fellow school board member Mary Whitfield expressed hope that her policy committee could meet sometime in August to address the issue. "We want to be able to accommodate any student if we can," she said.
Once a policy has been established, "We'll just take it as it comes," said Blairsville Elementary Principal Joseph Baker. "I'm up for anything that's going to be a help to my kids."
Once Eli was diagnosed as a diabetic, his mother said, an acquaintance recommended she consider matching him with a service dog.
She said the family searched for a poodle mix because the breed has a coat that doesn't shed and would be tolerated by those in the family who suffer from allergies. She added that Murphy's Golden Retriever lineage provides him with the characteristics of one of the breeds that "make the best service dogs because they want to please."
When the family learned it would take up to two years and cost at least $15,000 to obtain a dog that was ready to go to work with Eli, they opted instead to find one they could train themselves.
Nicol Michel said her online search for a dog generated a response from a woman in Ohio, who "graciously donated Murphy to our family and has stayed in contact with us. This gift will eventually be paid forward when we train another dog when Murphy's training is completed."
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Information from: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, http://pghtrib.com
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