This morning I had the opportunity to take an hour tour of the Dogs for the Deaf training facility here in southern Oregon. Even though I have know about the organization for years I came away impressed about the organization and what they do for the deaf and for dogs. The organization saves dogs from animal shelters and pounds where they will likely be put to sleep and trains them free of charge for people who are deaf. The dogs are able to do things such as hear door bells, smoke alarms, telephones, crying baby's etc and warn the deaf person that they need to respond to the sound they can't hear. It takes about six months to train a dog and place the dog in a deaf person's home. During the tour we were able to see the training apartments where the dogs are trained. These are apartment that look like a home were the dogs are trained. The apartments have kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms etc and the dogs are trained for example to respond to door bells etc. We viewed the kennels were the dogs live while in training and best of all I got to meet some of the dogs. The hardest part of training must be to say goodbye to a dog when it is time for placement. The dogs are placed all over the United States and in Canada. The trainer travels to the recipients home and spends five to eight days working with the dog and the new recipient . The trainer live in a motel and the dog stays with the new owner to transition the dog into their new home. This is all done free of charge to the deaf person. They do wonderful work there. This is a link to their web site: www.dogsforthedeaf.org
