Hearing Dogs
Dogs for the Deaf and Hearing-Impaired
By Milos Pesic
hearing dog
Dogs have incredible hearing capabilities. In fact, a dog’s sense of hearing is second only to his sense of smell. Dogs can detect sounds that are far too faint for any human ear to hear.
The first hearing dog was trained by a man named Anthony Blunt in England. He trained the dog for his own use. The first Hearing Dogs name was Favour. Since then, Hearing Dogs have become increasingly in demand by those who are deaf or who are hearing-impaired.
While most guide dogs for the blind are purebred dogs, most Hearing Dogs are mixed breeds that are rescued from animal shelters. The first thing that happens to a dog that has been rescued in order to be trained as a hearing dog is that they are given all of their vaccinations, they are spayed or neutered, and their health is brought to top form. Usually younger dogs are chosen to become Hearing Dogs, although occasionally older dogs and even dogs with disabilities themselves are chosen and trained as Hearing Dogs.
Hearing Dogs go through intensive training before they become certified. They are trained to respond to sounds – all kinds of sounds. The dog is taught to identify and locate a sound and then touch his owner and show him where the sound is coming from. This system is called the Touch and Tell system. The only sound that a hearing dog responds to differently is a fire alarm. If the dog hears a fire alarm, he touches his owner and then lies down flat. This is a signal to the owner that the sound is a fire alarm.
Hearing Dogs allow those who are deaf or severely hearing-impaired to live independently and to lead normal lives.
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