from Abi's mom: My 15 yo daughter went thru Heaven Scent Paws (HSP). We attended the 3 week class in February. we worked hard to raise approximately $7,500 for HSP. We mailed in scent items for dog training and were so anxious to attend class and receive our 'highly trained diabetic alert dog' (as per the HSP website, which has since been changed!) needless to say, we did NOT return home with a 'highly trained diabetic alert dog'. While there, our dog's strange behavior was explained away as 'trust issues' and we were told not to allow anyone to pet the dog. hmmm - I now know why we were told not to have anyone pet the dog: the dog had SERIOUS fear and aggression issues. Shortly after arriving home and being overwhelmed with the issues we were having with our dog, we were cut off from the HSP support blog - well, we were told that it was a 'glitch' in the system; however, this same 'glitch' just happened to occur to several others who were having similar problems with their dogs (5 out of 12 from the Feb class had problems with their dogs!!!) We were told that the 'glitch' would be fixed soon - I'm still waiting!!

So, being cut off from the group and not getting satisfactory help from HSP, we had our dog evaluated by 2 highly credentialed K-9 scent experts. We were told that our dog had NO recognition of the 'target odor' (my daughter's low BG scent) and that the dog was not properly trained as a service animal. The dog growled at me, at other members of our family, at friends and at strangers. The dog even had to be muzzled by a vet for a routine check up!! This dog was definitely NOT service dog quality to say the least - she was too scared of everything and everybody, except my daughter. Letting her go back to HSP, was none-the-less excruciatingly painful, because the 2 of them had bonded all-the-more tightly because of her 'trust issues'. Before sending her back, two different vets also examined her and were outraged that such a dog would be marketed as a 'service animal'. I could go on and on - and I will happily answer any questions that anyone would like to ask . ..the bottom line is that we contributed $7,500 to HSP and we have NO dog, NO refund and a lot of pain. in "defense" of HSP, I must say that they STATE that they are selecting another dog for my daughter. However, in light of our broken trust in that company, I made several requests which were denied: I requested video of standard temperament testing on the new dog for us to view. Request denied. I also requested that an outside source, a credentialed and experienced K-9 trainer in scent detection be present when HSP delivered our new dog (at my own expense) I reasoned that this would be like a "2nd opinion" that any reputable professional would welcome. I just wanted to verify that the new dog could actually recognize the target odor. Request denied.