Assistance Dogs - One Way A Hearing Center Can Help

Many people value their sense of hearing for the pleasures it brings. They can listen to good music, fully enjoy movies, or talk to loved ones on the phone. But our auditory system is really there to equip us for survival, and the things we do not think about are the most important. For people who cannot hear a car coming down the street or a smoke detector going off, intervention by a special kind of hearing center may be needed to facilitate their everyday lives.

One of the most incredible ways a hearing center can help people who are completely or almost completely deaf is by assigning them a hearing dog. Hearing dogs are trained specifically to be by their owner's side at all times to let them know when vital noise alerts, such as doorbells or sirens, occur. The dog will typically nudge the owner or run around them to alert them of something that needs their attention.

These dogs provide freedom and opportunity that deaf or nearly deaf people would not otherwise be able to enjoy. A hearing dog can give a deaf person more confidence in raising a baby because it can let him or her know when there is a baby crying in the other room. These dogs can let people feel free to walk around at night knowing that someone cannot sneak up on them or follow them to their car.

There are many different organizations in different areas that train assistance dogs, so there are many different approaches to training. One thing they all have in common, though, is that the dogs must undergo extensive obedience training in addition to the specific sound response training. This is important because they need to be absolutely sure the dog will not one day dart out into the street after a car or cat and endanger the well-being of the deaf person they are supposed to be helping.

Assistance dogs are typically trained and administered by a charity hearing center and are generally free of charge. However, there is an extensive application process to determine who the dogs will most benefit because obviously there is not an unlimited number of these highly trained canines. If accepted, the recipient will then go to orientation and training classes to learn how to correspond with their new four-legged facilitator.

As you may have seen before, assistance dogs are usually set apart by a specially designed harness or vest to let people know that the pooch is more than just a pet. It is very important that the general public knows this and responds accordingly. There are many reasons it is really never OK to pet or play with an assistance dog of any kind.

First of all, the dog is always at work even when it appears to be resting. In most cases, the hearing center that trained the dog will have used a reward system to teach the dog its job. When a person pets, plays with or feeds the dog a treat, the dog can become confused about its place and purpose and become less effective to the person in need.