Born to Smell: Neonatal Scent Imprinting and Diabetic Alert Dogs

In this episode, Libby Rockaway and Maggie Kudla dive into the fascinating process of neonatal scent imprinting and how it’s revolutionizing the training of diabetic alert dogs. From their very first days of life, puppies are exposed to specific scent profiles—such as the chemical markers of hypoglycemia in humans—to help them develop life-saving scent recognition skills early on.

We speak with experts in canine behavior, medical detection training, and diabetic care to explore:

• What neonatal scent imprinting is
• Why early exposure to diabetic scent samples boosts alert accuracy
• Real-life stories of alert dogs trained from birth to detect low blood sugar
• Important considerations and some of the practices in scent imprinting protocols

Whether you’re a trainer, a ...