DANGEROUS DRUGS

Does your physician, physician assistant, nurse and pharmacist know which medications contain peanuts / peanut product?  Well, don't be over confident.  I've had multiple parents tell me that a physician either prescribed or attempted to administer a medication to their child which had the allergen in it.

So, to help you stay on top of it, I've visited the wonderfully informative website (http://www.avoidingmilkprotein.com/) which has a list of some of these hidden dangers which you may accidentally give your child if prescribed.  Rather than just reproducing the list, I highly suggest that you  click here to view the list - print it up, and stash it somewhere handy!

Introducing Bentley

A couple of weeks ago, a small package arrived in the USA from B.C., Canada!  A

nd it's true - great things DO come in small packages!

Introducing:  BENTLEY,

 a black standard poodle who will be going to a little girl in the northwest. 

Bentley and his girl have met and had a two night sleep-over, and I dare say it was love at first sight!  His girl was so sad to see him leave (and, wow, I felt like a real meanie) but I think she understands that he has to go to school before he can do his job!

Bentley is an independent, happy, confident and playful pup who is doing a great job in the training program!  Because of his age, he doesn't have a lot of opportunities to hang out with the big boys (Dawg and Bullet), but on a few occasions he an Dawg play together.  He is bold and sure of himself, and doesn't seem to realize he is a fourth of Dawg's size! 

He is a fancy little thing, prancing about proudly wherever he goes!  And, any chance he gets, he L E A P S  (I could call him "Lizard" because he is a leaping lizard!) over anything and everything.  When playing with balls, he chases after them and then POUNCES on them with great enthusiasm!  Unfortunately, his aim isn't too great and he often pounces and - whoops - misses!  Cute as can be, Bentley is a great addition to the IST family of canines!

A List of Unexpected Places Peanuts (and tree nuts) are found!

I think most people who don't have a family member with a life threatening food allergy do not have any idea of the dangers involved in a simple accidental 'touch' of the allergen.  I'll admit it, I didn't have a clue until I was "schooled" by a young man receiving a dog named Remy! 

The danger of ingestion isn't truly understood by the masses;  most people I talk to think that the person with the allergy can "choke," "have a hard time catching their breath," or "break out" if they eat something.  There was a movie (the name escapes me) with Will Smith during which he unknowingly ingests shellfish to which he is allergic.  His reaction to the food is presented in comedic fashion and, although medicine is given orally, gives a false sense of what happens in a true reaction.  Sure, a person will turn red, swell and have difficulty breathing... but they aren't going to then walk in a stupor to a drug store, get some antihistamine and be all better, though sleepy, the next day. 

They're going to require emergency treatment with the epi-pen they should have on their body and in a hurry - and then they'll be on the way to the emergency room and their body, in spite of the medication injected and repeated at the emergency room, will continue to have a reaction far beyond that day. 

I have been told that every contact with the allergen, be it ingested, touched or inhaled, creates the potential for a more dangerous reaction the next time.   And, like "the masses," I used to think "How hard can it be to not eat (or touch) a peanut?"  Again, thanks to several children and parents, I understand!  Peanuts and tree nuts are everywhere.  And so, in an attempt to help people avoid contact - even just casual tactile contact - I'm compiling an ever growing list and I encourage and invite all who read it to add to it! 

THE LIST OF UNEXPECTED DANGERS TO PEOPLE WITH A PEANUT OR TREE NUT ALLERGY:

First, peanuts are not always listed as "peanut" on a label!  Look for the botanical name ARACHIS HYPOGAEA, commonly found in cosmetics

Peanut hay

Lubricating oil

Leather dressings

Fiberboard shelving

Kitty litter

Cat treats and food

Stuffed animals (sometimes stuffed with crushed peanut shells) – typically made in countries other than the USA OR older stuffed animals)

Peanut shells on the floor of stores and restaurants

Peanut shells on the ground

Deli meat slicers – some meats contain nuts (mortadella) or are browned/fried in peanut oil and therefore cross contaminates the other meats and cheeses

(This one is for Katy!)   OUR dogs say that pseudo marijuana uses peanut products as a base ingredient!!

The rest are probably more useful to you!

 Some environmentally friendly, “green” planters – And I quote: “From coconut fiber to peanut shells, today’s biodegradable pots are a step above plastic.”   To read more about this, click here NOW.

Some “green” products, like this mug, which uses peanuts and tree nuts -  Visit this link NOW.    Kermit had a song… “It’s not easy being green…”  I’m afraid “green” may have to become the new “red flag” to those with people with allergies.

Decks – you read that right, decks.  And, again, a quote:  Engineered decking is made of everything from sawdust to plastic to peanut shells. It tends to be more stable and wears better than wood. Exfoliator that contains ground nut shells   To read more about the decking dangers, click here NOW.
Some sunscreens

Livestock feed – dairy cattle feed is especially concerning

Kitty litter

Fiberboard shelving (I feel like I may have listed this one before… please excuse any duplicates!)

Library books – a fun place for most children, many, many of the books (especially in the children’s section) are contaminated.

Baking stones are often “seasoned” by making a batch of cookies…  Hmmm.  Be careful!

Flouride in the dental office

Flavored lip gloss

European chocolate (nuts are not always required to be listed on the label)

Peanut/peanut butter as a “secret” ingredient – especially in chili and baked goods

Rags used to prep plates before they leave a restaurant kitchen

Flavorx add-in medicine flavors

Pre-natal vitamins

Charcoal

Wallboard

Lawn fertilizer

Neutrogena brand moisturizer – Dawg specifically indicated on (and let’s not comment on my vanity, shall we?)  Neutrogena Healthy Skin® Firming Cream SPF 15.  I didn’t immediately see the culprit… then I put on my investigatory eyes and re-read the ingredients which included both Arachidyl Alcohol and Arachidyl Glucoside.  Well, I knew that ARACHIS HYPOGAEA is the botanical name for peanuts which led me to more research… whereupon I discovered that both Arachidyl Alcohol and Arachidyl Glucoside are derived from peanut oil.  And Dawg was, once again, right!!  

Cosmetic items with arachis oil listed in the ingredient list.

Prometrium® (synthetic progesterone)

MUSICIANS BEWARE:  Organic bore oil for wooden musical instruments 

It’s not that I think you and your kids are going to be messing with this, but it’s on one of the lists I found so SOMEONE had an issue.  Beware of Dynamite!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Traces left in toasters -  friends’ houses, relatives’ houses, restaurants and hotels

Used cars

Drinks made at a bar – such as Shirley Temples (The bartenders use their hands to fill the peanuts, top deserts and also to pull the cherries out of the bin…  Thanks to FARLEY for teaching me this one!)

The wrappers of Subway Sandwiches.  (Have I said this?)  The sandwich wrappers are kept beneath the fresh baked cookies.  Cookie crumbs fall on the wrappers.  Take a paper plate!

Hamster and rodent food

Pet shops are contaminated!  If you’re going in, be sure your child wears gloves, long sleeves, etc.  And do NOT touch their faces!!!

Scented fishing lures (specifically peanut scented… but be cautious!)

As much as I love the birds and the squirrels, the bird seed, suet and squirrel food is contaminated. 

Those birds and squirrels getting food from neighbors’ feeders may hide their nutty cache in your yard!  Just be aware!

Some mulch

Bugs starting to creek and crawl?  Watch out for the insect granules… some use peanuts

Thinking of starting some seedlings?  Read your potting soil carefully… some use peanut shells or pith. 

Those seeds in the shaker-style cannisters… yes, be cautious – some have peanut product in that mix. 

Can compost be dangerous?  Well, first make sure it’s YOUR compost and is free from peanut products composting… and THEN be aware that some accelerators and additives also have peanut product in them!

Uh oh… did you see a mouse?  Be cautious of used mousetraps or pre-baited mousetraps! 

Burlap bags – often used for fun picnic three-legged races – are dangerous as well. 

Homemade jellies

Some children’s vitamins  (insane, right?)

Some potpourri

Rental cars

Walnut shells are used in some texture additives for paint  -  walnuts are often contaminated by peanuts.

Some massage oils

Tanning oils, and then residue of those tanning oils are on the tanning beds. 

Atrovent® inhalation aerosol asthma medication

Cashiers (often grabbing a snack of a candy bar, trail mix bar, nuts, etc) and then handing you or your child money/product with contaminated hands!! 

Beware of  ”conditioned” or “oiled” cutting boards  – oiled with peanut oil

Older stuffed toys can be stuffed with walnut shells.

Library books and movies.

Some shampoos and conditioners.

Body wash.

Some mineral makeup.

Contaminated pot holders (at friends’ homes or restaurants)

Machine-made fake smoke

Plant sterols can be derived from peanuts and some are found in some of those “heart healthy” orange juice, yogurt, etc.

Drops to remove excess ear wax 

Pellets for pellet stoves.  The potential of inhalation is downright frightening.

Roach/ant bait disks

Some dog treats

Some hacky sacks

Some recipes for homemade play dough

WalMart brand (Great Value) shredded cheese – contaminated with almond

EVERYONE’S shoes… Make sure you have people remove their shoes AND LEAVE THEM OUTSIDE when they come to visit.

Fireplace logs – imagine the potential.

Beanbag chairs – some have peanut shells in them.  Very scary and so enticing.

Exterminators (at least in Texas) use peanutbutter in a syringe (which has poison in it as well) and come INSIDE YOUR HOUSE and inject it in the cracks around molding, showers, tubs, door jambs, window sills… you get the idea.

Some SCENTED crayons and markers

Some of the trained dogs indicate on some brands of colored pencils

Some diaper creams

Tooth polish at the dentist’s office

Specialty and/or homemade paper.

…and the list goes on!  L

July 17, 2011 - Bullet growing up

            As many of you know, I’m fielding a lot of inquiries about the dogs I train due to Dawg’s and my appearance on The Doctors.  It is a slow process because each person has so many questions (and rightly so!) and calls take a minimum of 30 minutes each (followed by a lot of note taking and documentation on my part!).

            However, the training of the dogs come first (okay, their time is set aside… sometimes the calls are being made first but the dogs have priority!!!) and I wanted to update you on Bullet, the newest candidate!  He is now four months old, is a whopping 25 pounds, strong as an ox, tenacious as all get out and (I’m happy to report) the little muppet baby loves to search and has surpassed my expectations!  This happy searching puppy looks to have great potential to being a peanut sniffing, peanut detecting and alert service dog to a very special little boy with life threatening allergies to peanuts in the Northwest!  (Is Bullet well mannered?  His behavior is exactly what it should be right now – - -  unbearable!  Dawg could write a book on Bullet’s manners, or lack thereof!  ) 

            Anyway, Bullet has just finished up his complete vaccination requirements so, next week (imagine trumpeting in the background!!!), will be out and about on the town a bit more than I’ve allowed!  He’s made trips to some homes with documented vaccinated dogs, Home Depot and some not-too-often used

trails!  Soon, he’ll be hitting the more well-traveled trails, visiting more places and donning his in-training vest all throughout the city, the farmer’s market (a VERY busy place with live music, food cooking, people running amuck, other animals, etc!), perhaps an upcoming rodeo and definitely visits to the local national parks! 

            I plan on going kayaking in Grand Teton National Park soon – and Dawg seems to think that he and Bullet can ride shot gun.  I have other ideas!!  However, they’ll be walking trails beneath Mt Moran, go to Dornan’s to watch the hummingbirds

 (and me eat!), riding the ferry across Jackson Lake, etc and, while in Yellowstone, walking the geyser basin, looking at the bison, elk, coyote, wolves and bear, checking out Fishing Bridge,!  Anyway, he’s resting up right now and well he should be – that pup is up for quite a learning experience!

            I’m on the lookout for a few more candidates – as I have some families excited and committed to getting an allergen alert service dog to call their own and the ability to add a couple more to my current home!  It’s a difficult and time consuming process… but so exciting for all involved!       

Turn your television on to watch Dawg (and me!) on THE DOCTORS!

h

"YOU TRAIN DOGS TO DO WHAT?"

“You train dogs to do what?”

I can not begin to tell you how often I’ve heard that question!  And that’s the first of a common string of questions which will follow, including “How hard can it be for someone just not to eat a peanut?” and “What breed do you use?” and “How do you train them to do that?” and “How do you know if it is going to be good?” and, and, and!!

Although I feel like a broken record (and I realize that some of you have no idea what that means…. for those in the CD and MP3 generation:  Although I feel like an endless loop recording…), I never cut it short and try so hard to make it sound as though they are the very first person to ask me these questions.  I thought, to start off this blog, I’d let you hear my “broken record” - The conversations go something like this:

I train dogs to detect allergens, such as peanuts, for people who have life threatening or life altering allergies.  After the dog detects it, he or she politely alerts the person.  Yes, some people do call the peanut detection dogs PeanutDogs but most of the time the owners just call them their best friend or their hero!

The dogs check for peanuts or tree nuts (or whatever the specific allergen) on items, on people and in food.  I’ve created a training program, along with some colleagues, which keeps things positive, upbeat and fun for the dogs.  It is a complicated process which shouldn’t be shortened – but it starts with simply showing the dog that we want him or her to find a certain item… and then we go from there.  Of course, after years of perfecting our unique training system, I’m not about to give our secrets away!!  However, we love to show off what our dogs in the middle to advanced stages can do! 

Searching food is where my job gets really challenging!  Not only can they not TASTE the food, the nut sniffing dogs can’t DROOL on or around the food either!  This portion of the training is probably THE most difficult part for the dog!  I begin with a principle developed by Ivan Pavlov to cause dogs to salivate and, with his work as a foundation, reverse things around and build upon it!   These allergen detection dogs just don’t drool for food, unless it is in their own bowl. 

I know it sounds like an allergy to a peanut isn’t a big deal but a little residue that gets into a child’s mouth can kill one of these children!  A lot of the people, mostly kids, are so allergic that if they TOUCH something which has just a little “dust” of their allergen, they’ll have a serious reaction and can be sick for days if not weeks!    So, obviously, it’s a HUGE deal and, before I got involved with the first family for whom I trained a dog, I thought like you do:  how hard is it to stay away from peanuts?

The answer, I’ve come to find out, is NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE!   You’d be shocked where peanuts are found.  George Washington Carver developed so many uses for the peanut and then the rest of the world found even more uses that it’s almost impossible to avoid them if you aren’t diligent.  For instance, which would you think would be safe for someone with an allergy to peanuts to touch – a woman’s face, a library book or a trail mix bar?  The truth is all are potentially dangerous:  much makeup, moisturizers and lotions have peanuts or peanut oils in them, and library books are often contaminated by the little hands who checked them out, and, of course, most trail mix bars are full of peanuts!  I have page after page of things that are dangerous for the people who have the allergies… even medicines!

The dogs I train become the person’s service dog, accompanying them wherever the person happens to go.  The dogs have the legal right to accompany their person anywhere – in the same way that a Seeing Eye Dog is allowed access anywhere, so are these dogs.  There’s a federal law that allows people with a disability to have a service dog accompany them anywhere.   Yes, people with this allergy DO have a disability.  It’s a difficult disability because it is hidden – there are no wheelchairs or crutches – and so misunderstood by the public.  So these service dogs are trained to behave properly in all situations, and settle down and relax when they aren’t needed.  Some dogs I’ve trained go to school with their kids, high school prom, driver’s education classes, have been to Space Camp, go to theatrical performances and even go on rides at DisneyWorld!

There isn’t really one breed of dog that’s better at the job, but there are a few requirements.  First, I won’t use a brachicephalic breed of dog (those are dogs with “flat faces” like boxers) because, in general, they can have respiratory issues and, more importantly, they have less olfactory (or scent) receptors per square inch than other breeds of dogs.  Secondly, there is a height requirement.  The dogs need to be able to check things at various heights, certainly tables, counters and shelves so small breeds, despite having all the characteristics one would think necessary, have to be ruled out.  Third, I take into consideration the stereotypes of some breeds and, although having successfully become a service dog could help end such stereotypes, my main concern is to make life easier for the people who use the dogs.  Therefore, I do keep in mind the public’s impression of some breeds in choosing a dog.  Lastly, there are certain, specific traits (and quite a few!)  I look for in a good candidate and, honestly, I keep that list close to my chest!  Of course, the dogs have to have a friendly temperament and a nose for detecting, but there are so many more traits, personality quirks, likes, etc that we consider.  My colleagues and I have made a list which we use to determine the potential but, no matter how carefully selected, the dogs, throughout the training program, have to meet certain benchmarks (dozens of them!) to make sure they are able to do the job properly but also to be sure that they ENJOY what we are asking them to do! 

It takes anywhere from 6 months to 18 months to fully train a nut sniffing dog!  It depends on a lot of things like the dogs’ age, temperament, confidence level, cognitive skills, drive, socialization and more.  A lot of times I’ll spend months with a dog that is showing great potential and then he or she will unexpectedly be unable to meet some benchmark, and then specific issues are addressed with that dog – special attention, special classes, special training and special trainers.  We work diligently to build the dog up in the area of concern but unless that benchmark is passed with ease (and several times in several environments), the dog will not stay in the detection and alert program.  I’ll find him or her a good home or another “job” with another organization or individual.  It’s a high stress job for the dogs and the dogs which work are the ones who don’t seem to realize it’s a job at all. They LOVE what they do, they LOVE to be with their person, they LOVE to search more than most anything else and they are confident, happy, prancing partners to the person who relies on them.

Yes, it is very difficult to give up the dogs when it’s time for them to go to their new homes.  It breaks your heart.  I remember the very first dog I ever trained to be an peanut detector dog – I didn’t know how I was going to let her go.  However, at a restaurant, while she was sleeping under the table and her new boy was eating the food the dog had examined and deemed “safe,” I saw the tears welling in the mother’s eyes.  I think it was the first time “in a lifetime” that they’d eaten at a restaurant and felt safe .  I knew then that the dog was going to offer this boy a life of independence and opportunities that he would have otherwise not known.  It was easy, at that point, to pass the leash, but tears fell nonetheless. 

And so, as I give up a dog I’ve grown to love and invariably is “my favorite,” I am brokenhearted, crying like crazy, missing the dog I love so much, making the family to PROMISE to stay in touch, and then… I hear about another child in need. 

And I wipe my eyes, take a deep breath, and discover a “new favorite” dog as  the cycle begins again.

New Dog Blog on the Way!

Hello everyone!

Please visit my current I Smell Trouble blog at: http://ismelltrouble.wordpress.com/ while my new and improved blog is under construction.

Hope to see you back here soon!

New Website in Development!

Hello there! I am excited to be in the midst of developing this new website focusing on allergen alert dog training and resources. Please come back here often as my new site continues to grow.

Thank you,
Leslie Staven