Getting a hearing dog is as not as easy as buying a pet. Service dogs have undergone extensive training from professional trainers for years, and assistance dog organizations will make sure that the dogs that they trained will go to the hands of deserving people. While a dog pet can only be sweet and charming, a hearing dog can be sweet, charming, and much more helpful.
Before getting one, the hearing-impaired person must understand that a hearing dog is not a nurse transformed into a four-legged animal. A hearing dog must be taken care of too, it also needs to be fed, cleaned, washed, and pampered. The person must understand that having a hearing dog is also a responsibility. He or she must have the patience to build a strong relationship with the dog in order to establish its obedience and loyalty.
Many assistance dog organizations are more than willing to help if a hearing impaired person is really serious about getting a dog. Some organizations even give the dog for free, as long as the person promises his/her utmost care for the animal. Assistance Dogs International, Inc. is the most prestigious coalition of organizations that train and place Assistance Dogs. Their website, http://www.assistancedogsinternational.org, provides a list of accredited and recommended canine training organizations from which one may get hearing dogs.
Links For Hearing Dogs
Internatinal Hearing Dog, Inc.
IHDI’s mission is to train and place hearing dogs with persons who are deaf or hard-of-hearing,
with and without multiple disabilities, at no charge to the recipient.
Dogs for the Deaf
Robin Dickson
10175 Wheeler Rd.
Central Point, OR 97502
(503)826-9220 (voice/TTY)
Florida Dog Guides For The Deaf, Inc.
P.O. Box 20662
Bradenton, Florida 34203-0662
(Hearing/Signal Guides Dogs)
Contact: Arlene Dickinson, Executive Director
(941)748-8245 (TDD/Voice Phone 1)
(800)520-4589
E-mail
Hearing Dogs, Inc.
Martha Foss
5901 E. 89th Ave.
Henderson, CO. 806-40
(303)287-3277
Hearing Dog Resource Center
Michelle Cobey
P.O Box 1080
Renton, WA. 980-57-1080
(800)869-6898
The San Francisco SPCA Hearing Dog Program
2500 Sixteenth Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
Tele: (415) 554-3022 (tdd)
Tele: (415) 554-3020 (voice)
4 Comments
We are thinking of getting a Hearing Dog for our hearing impaired child would like more information.
I WANT TO GET A DOG FOR MY DEAF SON WHO IS 27 YEARS OLD AND LIVES ALONE
I amlooking into getting a hearing dog as I am being tested for my second cochlear implant and was recommended that I look into a hearing ear dog. I live in Benson, AZ can you help me out? I am on SS disability.
I have a profound hearing loss and I am in desperate need of a hearing dog. I live alone in Alpine CA, (San Diego County).