My Hearing Ear Dog Stories

Transcript:
Hi, I had a Hearing Ear dog for 11 years. I have many stories about how Hearing people react to the dog. Most Hearing Ear dogs are small like poodles or shelties. But I told the school I can't see well so I need a bigger one. They said OK and gave me a 60 lb. dog and an excitable one. When the phone rings he gets all excited and pounces on me full force. I felt like I needed full hockey gear for protection. My first experience was in the training school. The trainer said we're going downtown Toronto to train. The trainer told us to go into Radio Shack to buy timers to use with the dog at home. I went in and bought it and on the way out, in a small aisle, there was a hearing woman coming down. She didn't see me or the dog. I waved to get her attention, she looked down, saw the dog and screamed! I watched her and the dog's ears were bent back and nervous. I grabbed the dog, pulled him back and walked down another aisle. The woman was still standing there, frozen. That was my first experience. Two years later I married a hearing man. When we would go out together he'd hear different comments from other hearing people about the dog. I just had to look at his expression to know if it was a stupid comment or a smart comment. The two smart comments were: "Oh look the dog helps the lady hear" or "Oh just like a guide dog for the blind it's a guide dog for the Deaf". The two stupid comments he'd hear are "Ohhh that means the dog is Deaf" or "Why are they bringing the Deaf dog here for?". My husband would eyeroll at that. Another story is when we would go grocery shopping, my husband would go one way to get things and I would go another way and get things and then meet up. I was looking at the shelves of cans, my husband came by and saw me and saw a hearing woman behind me talking to me behind my back. He went up to the lady and said "That woman is Deaf, didn't you see the guide dog?" "Oh I thought it was a pet". Speaking to me behind my back?? Nuts! Another story was when I was standing waiting for a bus, a woman came up and started talking away to my dog, look up at me and smile, and then continue talking to my dog. She kept looking back and forth between me and the dog then talking more to the dog. I watched this and then asked her "Do you think the dog is my interpreter?" The woman looked all embarrassed and said "Oh you can talk?" that was so strange. My favorite story was when I was 9 months pregnant, due to give birth any day. I told my husband I wanted to get a lottery ticket so I waddled into a convience store. Most Asians, I don't know why, don't like my dog, keep telling us to get out "No dogs allowed". So I go in, and the Asian man yelled "Out! Out! No dogs allowed!" I said "The law permits him in, I have I.D." He said "Doesn't matter, OUT!" I said "I want a ticket". He said "No service! OUT!" My husband saw the commotion and came in. He's a big guy wearing shorts, a Harley Davidson T-shirt, bandana and mirrored sunglasses. He looked at the man and said "The lady wants a ticket" The man said "Ok ok" punched up the ticket and gave it to me. That's my favorite story, I have lots more but need to limit my time so see you later for part 2. Thanks!