It was the beginning of the year when I received an email from a person, requesting my assistance. Her name is Linda and she explained that she was deaf. Linda had recently lost her companion and hearing guide dog to old age. She asked if I could help her find and train a new puppy for her. I told her that I would do my very best to find what she was looking for and the training I told her we would figure things out once the puppy was here. I was unable to find one for her but luckily a breeder in Washington was able to assist her (Samantha, Welsh Corgi). Linda contacted me again at our Sit Means Sit Los Angeles Dog Training office and we set her up for a free intro.
I pulled up to her house not knowing what to expect, I’ve had other challenges in my life, this should be a piece of cake. We sat down and she pulled out a notebook, we wrote out the entire intro. I explained to her that I have never certified a hearing guide dog before. Obedience, no problem but what she was asking, at the time I had no clue. She told me that she would assist me in training the dog for it’s hearing tasks, she obviously had experiance with that. I looked at her and wrote, “When do we start!” When we say we custom tailor a program to meet your needs, we mean it!
We started training about a week later. I explained to her the use of the remote collar and how it would enhance what she was attempting to do. I noticed that Linda was speaking very high to little Samantha which was scaring her. Very understandable given the situation. I instructed Linda to stop speaking. I told her I would teach her to rely on the remote and her body language to train Samantha. She is now a very happy little puppy on her way to great things. I told Linda I was very proud of her as well, despite our boundaries we are beginning to understand eachother and meet our common goal.
Like I mentioned earlier, I’ve had great challenges in my life, and this is not an easy task but the feeling I get from Linda’s smile when I leave keeps me motivated and pushing foward.
