Furocious
The first time I fell in love with an Airedale, I was 10 years old. I sang in the church folk group and our group leaders had a little toddler – and a wirey-haired, lanky-legged dog named Kate. Transposing music or practicing harmonies were never as sweet as when I got to howl with, and hug, sweet Kate!
Years have passed, but the “King of Terriers” remains a sentimental favorite and now I’ve met an even greater reason to love Airedales—and her name is Willa.
I’d seen Willa trotting down my neighborhood street with her human many times over the last couple of years. When we finally spoke, I found out that Willa, now nearly five, isn’t just a pretty face – she has a special job.
Willa is a hearing dog. Her human, Jessica, an English professor at Anne Arundel Community College, classifies herself as “hard of hearing” or “hearing impaired” (there are many distinctions in the deaf community) and relies on Willa to alert her to various sounds that she otherwise may not be aware of – such as a tea kettle whistling, a fellow walker approaching from behind, a telephone or doorbell.
“Airedales take a lot of initiative themselves as opposed to looking to their handler for direction,” says Jessica. “A lab or golden is a great dog for helping someone in a wheelchair because they were bred to follow directions. The handler says ‘open this door’ or ‘pick up those keys’ and the dog happily obliges.”
By contrast, as Jessica explained, “a hearing dog has to tell the handler what the handler wouldn’t know about otherwise.” In other words, the hearing dog hears a stimulus in the environment and then alerts the handler on her own. Clever girl.
Willa is Jessica’s second hearing dog. The first was in 1997, Toby, also an Airedale, and trained by a professional to the tune of several thousand dollars. Some estimates for training can cost up to $10,000, but many organizations have funding in place and, as with Dogs for the Deaf http://www.dogsforthedeaf.org, after you are approved, a ‘good faith’ deposit of $500 and a $50 application fee, appears to be the extent of the cost. However, the wait for a dog, once the application has been approved, can take 4-5 years. Another national resource is Canine Companions for Independence (http://www.cci.org) and in Maryland Fidos for Freedom (http://www.fidosforfreedom.org) performs training and is a cache of information on various types of service dogs, including hearing dogs.
This time, Jessica took matters into her own hands with Willa and with the guidance of Corally Burmaster, current president of the Airedale Terrier Club of Metro Washington, D.C. (http://www.airedales-dc.org/), clicker trainer and long-time Airedale breeder. Corally actually chose Willa out of the litter specifically for Jessica. Jessica trained her new partner based on a program designed by Corally.
“Willa showed overall confidence, “ says Corally “and was always one of the first puppies to try something new, approach a new person and, most importantly, search out the source of a sound.“ Due to the creative and independent thinking of the Airedale, Corally was not – at first – confident the breed would be a good service dog until she met one that was trained to help a woman who suffers from narcolepsy.
“Airedales tend to be independent thinkers, not given to performing behaviors the same way over and over again,” says Corally. While she has serious misgivings about them being suited as seeing eye dogs, she contends that “because they are self starters and creative [this] makes them good at a service job where the parameters (sounds) change from minute to minute.”
Was it just hopeful thinking that this adorable Airedale would be a good match for Jessica?
“Really, I think the most important thing is the personality match between dog and human partner. I’m a terrier person, and I have allergies. Airedales are non-allergy, non-shed breed - a great match for me.”
When asked what her take on other dog breeds might be, as potential hearing dogs, her answer was so great, I couldn’t improve upon it - so here it is in its entirety:
Hearing dogs need to notice sounds and be willing to jump up and alert (a mastiff is probably not a good choice)
but they cannot be super-reactive (my mother’s schnauzer would be alerting every time a squirrel dropped an acorn).
You generally want a dog that is just big enough to get the job done (you probably don’t want a Great Dane galloping
through the house to tell you the phone is ringing); for me, that means feeling safe when I’m out alone and can’t hear
activity behind me, so I want a dog that’s big enough to say, “Pick another victim.” Most people will tell you that
sighthounds and scent hounds aren’t good for assistance work because they are slaves to their eyes and noses,
respectively, but I know of a couple of exceptions to that rule.
And if you’re worried about Willa’s social life - don’t—it’s not all ‘work’ for Willa, according to Jessica, Willa has loads of play time and relaxation! As an Airedale admirer, seeing fuzzy, curly-haired Willa with her straight legs and skip in her step walking down the sidewalk gives me joy. The fact that she makes Jessica’s life more safe and secure – well, that’s just an added bonus!
For more information on clicker training, go to http://www.clickertrain.com/
Photos courtesy Rick Schiappacasse & Jessica Rabin.
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