Hi caa, interesting you choose to say that dogs trained as Hypo Alert Dogs or Bio detection dogs are registered assistance dogs - they are NOT at this time, as far as I know and if you look on their website you will see they do not claim to be.
There are some of us (me and approx 4 others) who have been through a long training process with another registered charity and whose hypo-awareness dogs meet the stringent criteria of ADUK (mostly via Support Dogs, who generally train dogs for people with epilepsy or autism).
There are also very many people who benefit from having pet dogs who successfully alert them to impending medical emergencies. However, having a dog who helps you at home is a totally different thing from having a registered assistance dog who must meet at all time stringent requirments of health, behaviour and b***sH*t from the public.
Most of us who meet the requirements for an assistance dog have Unstable diabetes (used to be called brittle but no longer), with fitting hypoglycemia, a partial or total lack of hypo awareness and usually a further complication such as retinopathy, neuropathy etc. Please do not assume that having a hypo awareness dog is an easy option for people who can't be bothered to care for their diabetes -
it is a massive, life-changing and amazing thing, but if one more person tells me ' I wish I could take my dog everywhere; I will scream!
If it is so entertaining to have an assistance dog,how entertaining is it to have broken bones, brain damage, a three-year restricted driving licence, an alarm in your bedroom and a holdall of pump atachments permanently about you, plus be unable to go out if your dog has a cold, or the squits? Not very I don't think, for god's sake, let's stop assuming that a hypo dog will cure everything for people who sometimes mis-judge their insulin - that is NOT the point.
I adore my dog, he has changed my life and enabled me to get back my life and I will jump through rings of fire for the people who trained him, but please don't assume a dog is a pump or a ping or a transplant - it is a relationship of immense value you need to work at. Don't dismiss us by believing it is simple