Your Name: Jennifer H., Pennsylvania
What is your Labˊs favorite food? Fruits, especially apples.
What is your Labˊs most mischievous behavior?
Being a hearing dog, Hattie is trained to alert me to the sound in my home, such as the oven timer, microwave, doorbell, door knock, smoke detector, alarm clock, telephone, and someone calling my name. Sometimes, she likes to “fib” and alert me to a sound that isn’t happening, just so she can receive one of her sound work rewards.
Does your Lab participate in any special activities?
Hattie is a Dogs for the Deaf Ambassador. As an ambassador for Dogs for the Deaf, Hattie and I visit schools, clubs, groups, and organizations, where we do educational programs about Dogs for the Deaf and Hearing Dogs. During these programs, Hattie also does demonstrations to show how she alerts me to sounds and performs her sound work duties, as she was trained.
Please share a favorite story about your Lab.
One of the most amazing things Hattie has done would be when she alerted me to the sound of a child’s cry while we were taking a walk at our local park. A little girl was playing on the jungle gym and had fallen off the sliding board. Hattie heard her cries from the other side of the park and she dutifully took me to the little girl. Because of making me aware of the little girls need for help, we were able to locate her mother, who was talking on a cell phone and was unaware that her little girl was hurt. Hattie was not trained to alert to the sound of a child crying but she instinctively knew that someone needed assistance. For that, she is not only my hearing dog but my hero, too.
