Teaching Other Ears To Hear

From: International Hearing Dog, Inc. - Jan 25, 2005

TEACHING OTHER EARS TO HEAR

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Valerie Foss-Brugger
(303) 287-3277/ihdi@aol.com

HENDERSON, Colo.: International Hearing Dog, Inc. (IHDI) has been serving the deaf and hard-of-hearing community for over 25 years. A Colorado non-profit organization, IHDI was the first program in the United States to train dogs to assist people with hearing loss. Since its inception in 1979, IHDI has brought nearly 1,000 hearing dog teams together throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Over the last 25 years, IHDI has received much praise and thanks from the many hearing dog recipients it has served and occasionally notified of a life-threatening situation in which a hearing dog, just by doing its job, preserved life, limb and/or property… all in a day's work. Just as rewarding is the preservation of independence and confidence. The staff at IHDI looks forward to placing more hearing dogs with those who can benefit from their help.

All rescued from animal shelters, hearing dogs go through 4-8 months of training at the IHDI facility. The dogs are matched to their recipient early on so that their training can be customized based on the needs of their owner. The dogs learn to alert to the doorbell/knock, phone, smoke alarm, baby crying. Our recipients must no longer worry about silent intruders in the home, emergency sirens, missing their alarm clock, water left running, oven timers… In short, hearing dogs provide independence, a sense of security, freedom, and companionship – and a reliability with which no technological advance can compare.

Once their training is complete, the hearing dogs are brought by a professional IHDI trainer to the home of the recipient. The trainer spends 4-5 days teaching the recipient how to work with the dog and helping the dog to adjust to its new environment. Like guide dogs for the visually impaired, hearing dogs have legal access rights to all public places when accompanied by their master.

The $6,000 needed to rescue, train, and place each hearing dog is funded through donations, service clubs, foundation grants, and fund-raising activities. The dogs are provided to recipients free-of-charge. After a three month trial period, the hearing dog team is officially certified and ownership of the dog is transferred to the recipient.

Please contact International Hearing Dog, Inc. to make your tax-deductible donation or if you know of a life that could be changed by the power of teaching other ears to hear.

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INTERNATIONAL HEARING DOG, INC.
5901 East 89th Avenue
Henderson, Colorado 80640
(303) 287-3277
www.pawsforsilence.org, ihdi@aol.com