Neversun

That makes sense! Why train a dog to do something unnatural when they have a natural tell. Especially when it's urgent. For drug or bomb sniffing dogs it might be dangerous to have the dog touch or bark at the item in question. But for a diabetic service dog that is probably one of the fastest ways to communicate with their owner. :) Thanks!

Does this mean that the dog chooses his tell? Or the trainer picks it and the dog learns? (ie, dog is trained to smell for a certain scent, puppy begins to encounter it and paws at it, and another barks. or are they taught to do a specific thing once they detect the scent?) I think it's standard for national guard/service/drug dogs, where they just sit at the smell of something instead of pawing or barking, but I don't know how that works for blood sugar or other non-standardized service dogs.