Hello Everyone,

First post, really love this site and the knowledge base of most on it.

We have a 3 year old daughter that has epilepsy and recently lost her hearing. Because we are unable to communicate well with her, we have decided to wait until she receives her cochlear implants and can communicate well before we get a dog. So it will be awhile, which gives us more time to learn and research.

We will train the dog in obedience but may go further if we can find a GOOD and reputable trainer somewhat close to us, we live in northern Virginia. Our main concern is a well adjusted, stable temparment and healthy dog to become part of our family. I have obidience trained a female rotty but still consider myself a novice and always learning.

A couple of questions for the many experts on this sight:

1. Do you think we should get a puppy or adult dog that has already proven it's temparment? Our two children will probably be 7 and 5 when we get the dog. No matter what, they will NEVER be unsupervised around the dog!

2. Who would you recommend as a breeder, breeder/trainer or trainer? We would be willing to travel most places for the right choice.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, my email address is: xpctrep@myvabb.com

Thanks,

Jim Davis

Hi Jim. Your post struck a chord with me. I'm very sorry to hear of your daughter's epilepsy and hearing problems.

While I am not in a position at all to recommend a breeder/pup/dog for you, I have a question of sorts. A full brother to one of my dogs is being trained as a "hearing aid" dog. He is being trained to alert on specific sounds like the alarm clock, the phone, the door bell, the stove timer - those are just some of the simple things. His handler has not yet totally lost her hearing, but it's coming on, which is so sad to me. But she's developing a great bond with her dog, who is already helping her, and will help her more in the years to come.

I'm not sure if you are interested in pursuing a dog that is, or could be trained for that sort of work in addition to being a family companion. Just wanted to make sure you know those kinds of options are out there. I don't personally know of organizations who help train or select pups for this purpose, but I could contact the owner of my dog's littermate if you would like me to, and forward whatever info she has.

Best Wishes to your daughter and your family!!

Beth

Beth,

Thanks for your response. We have looked into this and they will not normally place a dog with the hearing impaired unless the recipient is at least 16 years old. I do hope things continue to go well in the situation that you mentioned.

Also, we hope that our daughter's cochlear implants will allow her to hear once again making the need for one of these types of dogs unwarranted.

Thanks,

Jim