Many young moms can relate to the sound of their children repeatedly calling, “Mom, Mom, Mom.” Not Stephanie. Stephanie has relied on Can Do Canines assistance dogs—first Fred, and more recently, Casanova—for important sounds in her life. Becoming deaf at age 12 from meningitis, Stephanie uses cochlear implants, which only help to a certain extent. Stephanie explains, “The tone, volume, or duration of a sound can make it more likely or less likely for me to recognize them.” Her distance from a sound is also a factor. She says, “I would often bake cookies and set the oven timer, only …
Hearing Assist Dog
Hearing Assist Dog Jacqui Brings Natalie From Isolation to Independence
By Susan Byers – Out of the shadows and into the light. That’s how Natalie describes the impact of a Hearing Assist Dog on her life. Natalie was born with severe to profound bilateral sensorineural hearing loss, but it wasn’t diagnosed until she was 2 years old. She began wearing hearing aids at age 3. Her mother helped her catch up with language development and American Sign Language (ASL) classes, and at school, she had an ASL interpreter. But Natalie resisted using ASL and struggled to fit into the hearing world. By young adulthood, her hearing had declined, and she …
High Fives for Dov Ber and Cinco
By Susan Byers – Meet Dov Ber, a young husband, father, and Jewish educator living in Milwaukee. Dov Ber was born without any hearing in one ear and limited hearing in the other. In his youth, he wore a hearing aid which enabled him to participate in mainstream education and social activities among the hearing community. “My parents always encouraged me to be a part of the hearing world,” he said. “As such, I never felt limited by hearing loss.” In adulthood, Dov Ber decided to get cochlear implants in both ears. Given his mainstream upbringing and newfound ability to …
The Mighty Thor Takes on a New Role for Nancy
By Mary Gunderson – Nancy and her husband, Ed, brought Thor, the red Mini Poodle puppy, into their lives during the Covid isolation. Fortunately, Nancy had taken classes and trained the family’s previous dogs. “For Thor, I pushed dog socialization, especially, and had exchanges with friends and their dogs,” she says. “And, loose-leash walking.” Nancy’s commitment shows, but she credits Thor. “He’s a quick learner. He seems to say, ‘Tell me some more things to do,’” she says, adding with a smile, “His hardest task is to sit still.” Work friends told Nancy about Can Do Canines, how the organization …
Hearing Assist Dog Alayna Offers Faithful Security to Hannah
Hannah was 3 years old when diagnosed with bilateral moderate to severe hearing loss. Now, as an adult, she admits, “I’ve lived a very typical life except for the fact that I can’t hear at night when I don’t have my hearing aids or if I’m in the shower.” Nighttime can be especially scary for Hannah because her husband, Kade, works overnight, leaving her to the possibility of important sounds left unheard. Yet, Hannah managed. That is, until they had their son, Jack. “Once I had a baby, it was more than my life that I was responsible for,” she …
Integrating Breeze into his Life was a Breeze for Ridge
Ridge knows the drill. As a successor client, Ridge’s history with service dogs is extensive. Breeze is his third dog from Can Do Canines since becoming a client in 2006, and he trained a couple of dogs prior to that on his own. Despite having faced premature retirement with his 2019 Mobility and Hearing Assist Dog, Peggy, Ridge kept his heart open and ready to embrace a new partner. This summer, he was paired with Breeze, and says, “She is just perfect for me … She makes me be a better person.” Ridge has Multiple Sclerosis, hearing loss, and vision …
Hearing Assist Dog Wrigley Learns “Intelligent Disobedience”
By Mary Gunderson Roy and his wife, Paula, started financially supporting Can Do Canines more than 20 years ago with no thought of becoming an assistance dog family. About two years ago, Roy noticed his hearing wasn’t as sharp. While it’s not unusual for a person in their 60s to lose some hearing ability, Roy’s loss was steep and fast. “I became quite limited without hearing aids,” Roy says. Last summer he was faithfully reading Can Do Canines’ quarterly Tails for You. The article “What are You Waiting For?“ stopped him. “I was reminded, if you qualify for an assistance …
Jon Embraces Life with a Hearing Assist Dog
By Jessica Kellogg – For years, Jon struggled. Phone calls were missed; smoke detectors and doorbells were unnoticed; the voices of his wife and son were unheard. Jon and his family were living with the daily stress of a part of his world being inaccessible. Until Calla came into his life. “My wife drove by the Can Do Canines sign countless times before thinking that an assistance dog might be able to help me,” he says. Jon had been aware of guide dogs for the blind and therapy dogs but did not realize the extensive capabilities of assistance dogs or …
Andy Brings Steve New Hope
Steve served in the military during the Vietnam War and then worked in construction for 35 years. The noises from both of those experiences contributed to gradual hearing loss. His audiologist even speculated that Steve’s cold-water swims in Lake Superior–an annual ritual–may have contributed to the condition as well. So when he would need to remove his cochlear implants at night and hearing aids were no longer doing the job, he left himself vulnerable to sounds left unheard. His wife, Margaret, says, “I used my outdoor voice a lot. It was exhausting.” Yet, beyond basic communication effectiveness, safety became a …
Hearing Assist Dog Raven is Music to Megan’s Ears
By: Erin Reyes A ringing doorbell. A dinging oven timer. A chirping smoke alarm. Someone calling our name. These are sounds many of us take for granted every day – sometimes, we even treat them as a nuisance. But for Megan, a 27-year-old student at UW-Oshkosh, they are mostly a non-issue…because she can’t hear them. Megan was born with Treacher Collins Syndrome, a craniofacial birth defect in which some facial features – in Megan’s case, her ear canals – never fully develop. As a result, Megan has grown up with profound hearing loss. She first learned about Can Do Canines …