My parents are both profoundly deaf and after losing our cat recently, decided to apply for a hearing dog for the deaf (evidently having me around to make phone calls and run to the door and interpret and BE THEIR SLAVE* wasn’t enough).
So they filled in all the forms and so on and a woman came round to make sure our house is suitable for a dog and doesn’t contain metal spikes or anything. She obviously thought we were all okay and… we’re getting a dog! It’ll be some time in the new year, and the first three months will be a “trial and adjustment” period where we learn how to interact with the dog and get to know each other.
It’s going to be really great for my mum who has been stuck in the house a lot following recent illness - the companionship for her will be good, and the dog will help her with alerting her when the doorbell and phone ring during the day (at night the lights flash when they ring). Plus, when she has the dog with her in public it will have a purple coat on alerting people to the fact that it’s a Hearing Dog and so people will realise that my mother is deaf and not stupid/retarded/ignoring them.
Plus, it’s a dog! For me to love and play with! I’ve never lived with a dog before!
That’s great! I had a hearing dog for about 6 years - she was the best thing that ever happened to me. I gave her to my brother (also deaf) when I moved cross country, and it was a really big adjustment for me to live without her. It never failed to amaze me how much the quality of life improved when I had her - especially since during the time I had her, I lived alone. Now that I’m married, it’s less of an issue for me to fend for myself.
Smashed - if I can ask, what did you find most useful about your dog, in a hearing-dog way? I think the companionship element is going to be very important to my mum, but I wondered if there are times that stand out to you when having a hearing dog was important? And dear god, can I put a coherent sentence together this evening?
I’m just looking forward to having a dog to play with, but I also want my parents to get the best out of the dog.
A HEARING DOG! Sheesh, don’t you pay attention to anything?
Now Puddin’ the purple uniform in all well and good, but don’t strat dressing the pooch up “because it make the little dear look so cute”. This makes dogs mean.
Talking baby-talk to them makes them crazy.
So if you were to talk baby-talk to your new pup while dressing it in tartan sweaters… look out!
-Rue. (dog X-pert)
I had one in the 80s…what a trip. I asked for one that would be medium. But she kept growing & growing (she was a mutt, they don’t know how big they get) ! The funny stories I could tell:
One time I was taking a nap & Simba (That’s her name, the pooch), was chewing her big bone. Naturally the phone rang, she ran into the bedroom, jumped on the bed & dropped that soaking wet with drool bone in my face. Aren’t they clever?
I’m making out with this lovely lady who is laying on the bed. I guess the phone rang or something but Simba (female) came in & started to lick the face of the lady.
Mine came from the SF SPCA. Every day they would get her up at 6am to train her for months. Naturally, guess what time she woke up every day expecting to be trained? Yep, 6am. If she didn’t get her training she would start chewing on things in the house. She chewed through quite a lot of stuff.
they teached them to jump on you to alert you of sounds (not all are trained this way). Simba got pretty big & when she would run outside when its raining & get full of mud then the blasted phone would ring & she would come running in & jump on me at full speed, mud & all…sigh
Oh, cool. Dogs are great. All companion-y and useful. I’m very glad for you because it means that when I come to your house, if you are not there, the dog will alert your mother of my presence. And if there is no dog, then I know no one is there and I won’t just barge in. And be caught.
And, in real-life news, good for you. I’m sure the dog will be appreciated by all of you.
" From the literature we’ve been given, we understand that the dog has been trained not to jump up, but to put a paw on the owner to alert them."
Yes, some of them get another type of training. But be sure to ask about their training schedule. They are pretty neat but I had to give mine back. They said that she needed to be with a hearing family who could watch her 24 hours a day.
I saw one at a seminar we hosted. He was a tiny little dog and had a sweater reading “Do not pet. Working dog”.
His owner was more interested in explaining how he warned her of various dangerous things while traveling than general training.
Are they trained do do anything besides alert you to noise? Indicate wheteher it is the phone, the door or someone calling for help? Service dogs, for instance, would bring a cordless phone to a person when it rang. Maybe he could turn on the TTY with his nose or something.
carnivorousplant, they run from you to the phone or to the door.
Candid Camera did a stupid sketch on them right near my house. The canine would talk to mr Funt & tell Funt what people were saying who were sitting next to him. People actually fell for that too.
You also get a cool ID tag. So you can take them on the plane & in restaurants.
