One of the greatest advances in helping individuals with hearing loss is hearing dogs. While dogs for guiding people who are blind have been around for many years, it is only in the last decade that hearing dogs have emerged as a means to help individuals get through their daily life. As a result, many Labradors and Retrievers have been trained with the sole purpose of helping people who having hearing loss. We will take a look at the ways that they can help their partners as well as the training methods that produce these animals.

Pet Requirements

Of course, when it comes to training these hearing dogs there are some rules and regulations that you must follow. First, you must be at least 18 years old and have the ability to show that you have a home that is capable of sustaining a dog. Then you must also furnish a friend or another person who can help you with all of the in-home training that must occur before you get the dog. Once you file the application you must attend canine training and then annual training if you are successful in obtaining one of these dogs.

Training

The training program that is required by the dogs is done in an intense period of four or six months depending on the dog’s temperament. They can be trained to help in all aspects of someone’s life by being trained to identify and respond to many sounds. These usually include a door knock, smoke alarms, and microwaves going off. After being placed for a time, these pets can pick up additional sounds that are specific to one’s daily life.

How They Help Individuals

After the dog has been placed with their hearing partner, they still need to have some personalized care training to make sure they both are a good fit for one another. With the initial training complete, there are many services that the dogs can help individuals with, allowing them to have greater independence in their lives. They can communicate situations that occur inside the house as well as on the street.One of the best examples of this happening is when you are walking you hearing dog and they hear an alarm from an ambulance. While they are not trained to identify this sound, the change in their body language will clue you into the fact that something has changed. This happens quite often when a hearing dog is placed with an individual: they change their behavior to modify it for your life, and you will begin to see the small changes in temperament that let you know that there is an occurrence.