How these adorable pups can help the deaf

National World - LocalTV

Hearing Dogs for the Deaf are a charity who aim to help deaf people by providing them with a well-trained pup that can help them with important sounds such as smoke alarms, as well as give them a brilliant friend. Here is the footage from their appeal at the Trafford Centre today.

Transcript

00:00Hello and welcome to Manchester World. My name is Theo Hewson-Betz and today I'm at the Trafford Centre

00:04but a very exciting puppy parade for hearing dogs for the deaf.

00:08But before we get started with seeing the dogs themselves, let's hear a little bit about the impact that they can have

00:13and the importance of having dogs like this for deaf people.

00:16So Hearing Dogs is a charity and we train dogs to alert deaf people to sounds that they would otherwise miss.

00:24Things like fire alarms, smoke alarms, doorbells, alarm clocks. Dogs are just so, they're so interoperative.

00:32They just, they understand, I think they feel things more than us. They understand when people are feeling down

00:38and they just, they'll just go and sit with the person. It's just, yeah, dogs are just phenomenal.

00:44Our puppies are trained by volunteers in their own homes. They stay with them, they look after them

00:51and train them in their own home for probably about 12 months.

00:54So it's a great way actually of having a dog in your home, which we all love, without the expense.

01:02The reason we did it, we lost our last pet dog and we couldn't do it again.

01:07But we couldn't look without a dog. So we thought, volunteer, help out, change somebody's life.

01:14So we've had three dogs and our last dog, Hattie, she went six weeks ago to her deaf partner.

01:22Very rewarding to see the end result of the wrong work you've seen.

01:27Our best friend is deaf and the difference, she explained it like before she got home to her dog,

01:35it's like living in a glass box. She could see the world, the world couldn't see her.

01:40She got home to her, the glass shattered and she became part of the world again.

01:45But we're really hoping that we get more volunteers because the waiting list is so long for a hearing dog.

01:52We've been just over 10 years. We're on to our ninth dog, which started this week on Tuesday.

02:02We just picked up an eight-week-old Labrador pup. We just find it really good.

02:06But I'm usually here with my wife. The charity for us has been like a huge family, to be honest with you.

02:12It's not just the dogs. The friends that you meet are out and about.

02:17So it's a really nice way of working and we probably enjoy it.

02:23And when you hear the good that the dogs do for the deaf people, it's worth doing.

02:28The requirement for dogs now has gone sky-high.

02:34And we've got the dogs, but we need people to train as well.

02:38So the emphasis really today is to bring people into the fold to do what I do.

02:44Now, as everyone that we've spoken to today has said, they have the dogs and they have the waiting list.

02:49They just need people to help train and they need money to help do that too.

02:53So anything that you can do to help will be massively appreciated.

02:56But for now, this has been Manchester World. Thank you very much for watching.

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