David Eslick has a Lions hearing dog called Jake and describes the 15-month-old terrier-cross as a lifesaver.
With the canine companion by his side, David said he knows when the doorbell rings, when the oven’s ready or when the phone’s calling.
“I really am so lucky to have him,” David said. “Everybody takes for granted the normal things like the telephone ringing, smoke alarm going off or the microwave and oven ringing. Those things I can’t hear, so Jake knows these sounds and he can alert me to any of these. What he does is jump on me when the oven or doorbell is going and takes me to the sound.”
Jake is dog number 621 as part of the Australian Lions Hearing Dog program. The cost to train an Australian Lions Hearing Dog is currently $37,000, however they are given out free of charge to hearing-impaired people as a gift from Lions Clubs of Australia.
In public an Australian Lions Hearing Dog can help a deaf or hearing-impaired person pick up on environmental sounds that they may normally miss, such as a person coming up behind them with a trolley.
As with guide dogs for the vision impaired, hearing dogs wear a special identification harness when outside and are allowed into all public spaces.
David said living with deafness can often be a lonely, isolating experience, but hearing dogs offer love, company and independence. He said the hearing dog program was relatively unknown and he urged others to apply.
“My deafness comes about from years in the entertainment sound industry and can’t be fixed with a Cochlear implant,” David said. “Having Jake improves my quality of life. I can go out with confidence now. I can go out and not have to worry about missing things or relying on people to tell me things.”
By Derek Schlennstedt for Bundaberg Now