LakeTahoe

I don't need a hearing dog...I thought of first but nah! I got my puppy at 8 weeks old...she learned what doorbell flash means...then right away when she see it flash, she bark her head off! She knows it is doorbell and ran to the door and really excited! Silly girl! But I love her to death!!!

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Deafness

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pek1

I have a hearing dog, as many of you here know. Best thing I've ever done is to get her and train her myself. Technology (and electricity) fails, so it is nice to have a second set of ears.

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Pete

Above Him there is no other . . . John 14:6.

Zogg

I'm a hearing person taking my first ASL class and recently learned about hearing dogs. I have working k-9's for protection but I have never seen working hearing dog. I'm trying to understand if having a hearing dog significantly changes lifestyle compared to not having one.

BelgianSheepDog

I share my life with a Belgian Sheep Dog. Chance, being a herding dog, is naturally alert and watchful. His ears are like radar :-) He seldom barks; his alert is poking me with his pointy nose.

I trained him myself with the help of professional trainers. Chance has been a hearing dog for about 2.5 years.

I frequently drop things. He will automatically give me my wallet or keys, but does a nose poke for other items I drop.

I cannot hear the fire alarm and have been left in the work place many times. They won't do anything about it - we have wimpy strobes that cannot be seen over room lights. So, after many years of trying, I decided to be proactive and get my hearing dog to alert me to alarms.

Being a Belgian Sheep Dog, Chance thinks . . . sometimes he outthinks me. I may teach him to read . . .

Grummer

ah lol, now im the opposite of you, a hearing dog experience is good and bad, good as in being your saviour not to miss out on thing we're supposed to be alerted to, like beligumsheepdogs spoke of her experience about smoke/fire alarms, yep that happens to me too. I'm a HOH more than deaf, and yet becuase of this 'slightly deaf in appearance according to the unenlightened hearies views upon me (not all their fault, just lack of experience /awareness on their own part) .
the bad part about heaing dogs is hearies doubts and pestering you from all directions its not funny, just ask Pek1 , which is classic, thought a right bloody nusience , it all seemed to boil down that hearing dog have a reputation (at present) to be jumpy and overly extroverts, so it confuses everybody.

now back to me, I for one would like to know more about effect of dogs for protection. do you train dogs for protections for hearing or deaf people?

on top of that wheres the best website to read up about it? (im lazy) i mean best as in everything like temperments matching and how to exploit certain characters of dogs to your advantages to enable their protection WHILE at same to note how to flag down threats to dog Before the dogs attacks! this bit im kind of interested in. the 'how much control you really have, that is in theory to be able to switch from hearing dog duty, to guarding and not just alerting, where i suspect many get confused with, and thinking how protective or cute.

i would add that, there is a complete lack of realistic literature on impact of hearing dogs for deaf people other than proclaiming the romantic/doggie love views and industry-building hypes.

cheers
Grum

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It's like you go to the beach. It's a little cold. You're not sure you want to go in. There's a pretty girl standing next to you. She doesn't want to go in either. She sees you, and you know that if you just asked her her name, you would leave with her. Forget your life, whoever you came with, and leave the beach with her. And after that day, you remember. Not every day, every week... she comes back to you. It's the memory of another life you could have had. Today is that girl.

Liebling:-)))

*raise my hand* My cats are hearing...

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dreama

I have a guide dog. She also lets me know if someone is at the door but only if we are in the same room. I also ask bus drivers to call Jilli when I get to my stop. So when she gets up I ask bus driver to tap me if I am at the right stop. Sometimes they co operate although not always.

Jilli is a wonderful companion. I won't be replacing her when she retires. Not while she's still alive anyway as I think it would be heartless after all she's done for me just to replace her. I will use a long cane instead.

moonflower

i used to have hearing cats they did those things and they refused to leave my side when i am alone always stayed on my side all the time

i would get hearing dog to keep me company that all

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my little niece born 11/1/08

WildHunt

I did consider getting a hearing dog, but maybe not til way down the road when my kids are out of the nest.

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Roadrunner

That's nice and wonderful that Jilli is a great companion and works real well for you. Mind saying how old she is? Also, very nice and thoughtful of you to keep her as long as she is around..obviously shows that there is indeed a very good and strong bond. Have a good day--





~RR

Dixie

I think heainrg dogs are ideal for people who don't feel safe having their houses rewired to flash when the doorbell rings, or if they live in public housing and it simply cannot be done.

I agree that some people do abuse the Assistance Dog title and actually spoil the dog to death as a pet which is wrong and in the end it makes it harder for TRUE hearing dogs to get recognized as service animals.

The only place where a hearing dog would truly be functional is in the home, or in rarer cases an office setting as well. As for going to wal-mart, I don't know. I'm hoh and I often don't find myself in harm's way at wal-mart and I often take my DD with me.

Service dogs should blend in with the person and become and extension of that person. Such as if I worked in an office setting and someone came in (door chime goes off and I dont hear it.) I want the dog to alert me by pawing at my leg and walking towards the front desk. Not barking loudly and going ape-shit.

I hope I made sense.

dreama

Jilli is now 8 years old. She's in really good health so I hope to keep her for another 2 or 3 years yet. Yes, we do have a really good bond. I had to part with my last guide dog Bruce when he was 9 and a half because he started getting really agressive as he grew older, although he was over protective right from the start. He the very first (and probably last) Australian shepard guide dog. Originally meant to be a show dog as he had his tail docked which must have caused his agression but the guide dog association weren't responsible for that as he was a gift and had his tail docked before they got him. I didn't really want to give him up but there were children around at the time so I didn't have much choice. My dad looked after him after he retired until he died a few years ago.

Jilli's much calmer. She's really good with children and small animals. I should know as I have rescue rats and chinchillas and she lets them climb on her. I won't ever want to part from her.

You can see lots of pictures of her here: Very Dangerous Beans