Shoppers learn about hearing dogs for the deaf

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A charity held an information stand on its work at a supermarket in Bourne.
Hearing Dogs for Deaf People held the information stand at the Tesco store in South Road, Bourne, where volunteers spoke to customers and staff about the work its dogs do in helping deaf people.
The charity was also looking for people to become puppy socialisers, based at the new puppy socialising centre in Peterborough.
Puppy socialisers look after puppies on a full-time basis for about a year to give them basic obedience training and get them used to social situations, before they go on to become fully-fledged hearing dogs.
Customers and staff enjoyed meeting puppies Denby and Darla and fully-qualified dogs Bob and Poppy.
A collection at the store also raised £216 for the charity, which has a waiting list of about five years for a hearing dog.
The charity hopes to reduce this list after it raised £70,000 as part of a campaign called Merlin’s Mission. Half the money will go to training hearing dogs for deaf children.
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Shoppers learn about hearing dogs for the deaf - Local - Bourne Local
 
deafdyke said:
Um why would a kid need a hearing dog?
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how would a deaf dog alert a deaf person to sounds they aren't hearing, isn't that the whole purpose of having a deaf assistance dog???
 
I have met a person with a Cochlear Implant at Sunnybrook/Toronto who had a "Hearing dog" for assistance. At first I thought she was blind-not so.

Simply beyond me what possible "assistance" the dog could give.

aside: It never occurred to me to request one.
 
I've worked with deaf dogs.

I've also volunteered with service dogs.

Hearing dogs or signal alert dogs are dogs that are trained to alert handlers to sounds in their environment. That could be - baby crying, phone ringing, doorbell/knock etc, someone calling out for them. I realize that light flasher and other things often alert people in the same way; I'm just saying what the dog's job is.
The dog is trained to check out the source of noise and alert the handler, and/or try to entice the handler to follow dog to the noise. Service dogs in general, of which hearing dogs are one kind, are often taught a general "get help" cue, that means the dog is supposed to go find another person in the home, or in the vicinity if the handler is out and about, and try and get the second person to come with them to see what is needed. This is useful if, for example, a person with a mobility dog has fallen out of their chair and for whatever reason can't get back in it. A hearing dog can also get help for other household members..if say there's a kid in the house who gets hurt and calls out for someone...the dog can be trained to alert the handler/parent to the fact that a child is calling for them. <again, just describing the possible jobs for the dog>

I didn't see where the article mentioned the hearing alert dogs actually being deaf...
 
I don't think the dogs were deaf. I used to be really against them as unnecessary, but our youngest rescue , a poodle mix, seems to have decided to take this role on by herself with no training.

She is pretty good at it. She keeps Joey the deaf Pekingese informed too.

It's kind of nice.
 
dogmom said:
I've worked with deaf dogs.

I've also volunteered with service dogs.

Hearing dogs or signal alert dogs are dogs that are trained to alert handlers to sounds in their environment. That could be - baby crying, phone ringing, doorbell/knock etc, someone calling out for them. I realize that light flasher and other things often alert people in the same way; I'm just saying what the dog's job is.
The dog is trained to check out the source of noise and alert the handler, and/or try to entice the handler to follow dog to the noise. Service dogs in general, of which hearing dogs are one kind, are often taught a general "get help" cue, that means the dog is supposed to go find another person in the home, or in the vicinity if the handler is out and about, and try and get the second person to come with them to see what is needed. This is useful if, for example, a person with a mobility dog has fallen out of their chair and for whatever reason can't get back in it. A hearing dog can also get help for other household members..if say there's a kid in the house who gets hurt and calls out for someone...the dog can be trained to alert the handler/parent to the fact that a child is calling for them. <again, just describing the possible jobs for the dog>

I didn't see where the article mentioned the hearing alert dogs actually being deaf...
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dogmom, that's my point.....for everything a hearing ear dog does there's an alternative.......you don't really NEED something like a hearing ear dog, the way a blind/low vision person needs a guide dog.
 
I see what both Botti and DD mean. Guess I see both sides. Particularly if the person lives alone, or has a cross-trained animal, such as seizure alert or psychiatric service.

I've known other people who said their sighted or hearing dog <dog that physically could see or hear better than> ended up being the guide for other non-hearing or non-sighted dog in the household. That can be reassuring for the other dog.
 
My Tessa is my hearing/service dog. I'd be happy to answer any specific questions. She also helps me with light mobility and counter-balance when needed, as well as other things. I am 60, have severe hearing loss and other health issues also. I can not use hearing aids and have no help or significant other in human form. The amount of fear and confusion in older LD people can be huge. Tess has reduced this significantly.
 
podiecat said:
My Tessa is my hearing/service dog. I'd be happy to answer any specific questions. She also helps me with light mobility and counter-balance when needed, as well as other things. I am 60, have severe hearing loss and other health issues also. I can not use hearing aids and have no help or significant other in human form. The amount of fear and confusion in older LD people can be huge. Tess has reduced this significantly.
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I can understand where a hearing ear /service dog might be helpful to an older LD person......but the thing is the article specificly mentioned that the hearing ear dogs were for students...Why that population?
 
I see that the dogs are for children- the article did not say students. I have seen a few of these trained dogs and they are wonderful companions and useful besides. There are quite a number of parents out there of hearing children that firmly believe their kids should have a dog to grow up with. It is not a maybe or anything like that is hardwired. Why not trained up dogs for deaf children? Try as I might I cannot see something wrong there.

That old Watson belief that affected my family so much is out there still watered down but still alive. After WW1 there was this idiot named Watson kind of Dr. Spock of his day that believed you should not show love to children because the world is a tough and brutal place and only the strong and emotionally hard have a true place in it.
 
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