Even in Paradise

Crissy, Reagan and Cash

 The Santiva Saltwater Fishing Team is happy to have added Capt. Brian Dollar to our list of "The Best" in 2012.  Not only does Brian bring professional fishing expertize. He has the other Santiva qualifications.  He is a loving father and husband , high moral standards  and a love for God and country.

When adding to our family of guides, I sometime want to share with our customers important issues.   Even in "Paradise" our family confront the same day to day issues that other family face

Capt. Brian and family

Reagan was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes on April 20, 2011 when she was 3 yrs old. Type 1 Diabetes is also known as Juvenile Diabetes. T1D is an auto immune disease & her body can no longer produce insulin.  Some of the warning signs of Type 1 Diabetes are extreme thirst, extreme weight loss, extreme hunger, excessive urination, extreme fatigue & irritable, to name a few. Cash is a diabetic alert dog that we are fundraising for thru Guardian Angel Service Dogs, Inc's 501c3.  He is scent imprinted at birth & began his training at 7 wks old. He is a black lab & is now 4 months old. We received him on August 17th. Guardian Angel Service Dogs, Inc. is located in Virginia & they provide service dogs for all invisible diseases. As far as I know, GASD is the only company that will allow a child under the age of 12 to receive an alert dog for T1D. And they are the only company that places puppies!  The reason they place the puppies with the children at such a young age is the bonding....it is so important for that bond to be instilled between the dog & child!  Cash came off the airplane & alerted within the first hour & has been alerting ever since!  Our training with Cash will be every 90 days over the next 2 years. Our trainer will fly down & stay for 2 to 5 days depending on how much training needs to be done. The trainers are the best of the best & truly love these kids & dogs!!!  Once Cash is fully trained he will be able to call 911, retrieve Reagan's test kit, retrieve Reagan's juice or glucose tabs, alert for a high blood sugar by giving us a "high 5" by pawing, nudging his nose against us for a low blood sugar & also alerting to someone other than Reagan if she is unresponsive or if she is not listening to him....he will also come to wake up myself or Bryan or even Cameron in the middle of the night for a high or low blood sugar!!  More information about Type 1 Diabetes can be found at www.jdrf.org & more information about Guardian Angel Service Dogs, Inc can be found atwww.guardianangelservicedogs.org. 


Thank You Crissy for allowing us to share this beautiful meeting !!!!