Diamond the Terrier and Banjo the Labrador Retriever

Here are some pictures I took of my dog, Diamond, and my mom’s dog, Banjo. Both dogs live in the same house with me and my parents, so I sorta kinda consider Banjo my dog, too. Diamond is a four year old purebred Red Nose Brindle Pit Bull Terrier, and Banjo is a one-and-a-half year old purebred light cream Labrador Retriever.

Diamond, the rescue Pit, is my owner trained multipurpose service dog for psychiatric alert and response, autism assistance, and medical alert and response. She’s fully task trained and public access trained, as well as a certified AKC Canine Good Citizen. Both her and Banjo passed their AKC Canine Good Citizen (CGC) tests at just a year old. The tester even complimented me on my training skills, especially since I was at a young age of just 15/16 years old at the time.

Banjo, the goofy Lab, is my mom’s multipurpose service dog for mobility assistance and psychiatric response, whom I trained for my mom. He’s fully task trained and public access trained, as well as a certified AKC Canine Good Citizen.

Diamond is my life-saver. I don’t know what I’d ever do without her. She has helped me in many ways, including keeping me from fainting with her very helpful low blood sugar alerts. She interrupts my self-harming behaviors (scratching), and even guides me during episodes of dizziness or dissociation. Of course, she can do many more than just this. She’s just such a smart doggy.

Many people don’t know this, but all service dogs have “off-days” where they may be a little more distracted and what-not, but the majority of the time, they are well-behaved and know when they need to help their handler. Other than the occasional off-day, Diamond and Banjo follow their obedience and task commands perfectly.

Diamond and Banjo both love to learn something new. They’re people-pleasers for sure. LOL. Submitted by Jennica F.