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Lend Me an Ear: The Temperament, Selection and Training of the Hearing Ear Dog
This book discusses the unique hearing capacities of dogs and how they can help hearing-impaired humans. Martha Hoffman explains why cast-off shelter dogs often make the best hearing dogs and what breeds have the best rates of placement with deaf and hard-of-hearing partners. "Lend Me An Ear" is an informative and unique book--a must-read not only for those in Service Dog training but also for all dog lovers.
220 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1999
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October 5, 2016I'm the author. I love this book very much!
It's dated now in the training section. Our newer Soundwork training methods are much easier, faster, and require much less human help (still positive). I'm enjoying teaching online now.
My friend introduced me to Goodreads, and I see there are some readers already. I'm happy to answer questions anytime.
On Facebook, my main group is Open Forum Martha Hoffman Hearing Dogs.
Website: www.marthahoffmanhearingdogs.com/academy
Our first course is free. This course starts a good foundation for all kinds of Alerts by discovering your dogs motivations and building on them. We also teach a happy energetic response to the timer by associating the beep with treats, fun, games, toys, YOU, and all the dogs favorite daily life events.
This sets the stage for many different types of Alerts, to "Go Get Help", other sounds and situations, and the basics for medical alerts.
It's dated now in the training section. Our newer Soundwork training methods are much easier, faster, and require much less human help (still positive). I'm enjoying teaching online now.
My friend introduced me to Goodreads, and I see there are some readers already. I'm happy to answer questions anytime.
On Facebook, my main group is Open Forum Martha Hoffman Hearing Dogs.
Website: www.marthahoffmanhearingdogs.com/academy
Our first course is free. This course starts a good foundation for all kinds of Alerts by discovering your dogs motivations and building on them. We also teach a happy energetic response to the timer by associating the beep with treats, fun, games, toys, YOU, and all the dogs favorite daily life events.
This sets the stage for many different types of Alerts, to "Go Get Help", other sounds and situations, and the basics for medical alerts.
October 5, 2016
What an extraordinary book.
I've been working full time in dog behaviour and training for many years now and the number of books I have read on the subject has to be many hundreds! But this one stands out for me, as one of the most technically competent things I've ever read, about dogs.
In this book the Author goes into incredible detail about identifying character traits that are suitable and necessary for the role of a hearing dog (A Dog who helps its deaf or hard of hearing owner, identify when crucial sounds like smoke alarms, the telephone, etc., occur).
The authors breadth of experience is most impressive and vast, having assessed many thousands of dogs in rehoming shelters for their suitability. Its great to read of someone who really knows their stuff, talk about their stuff and talk about it with such passion too!
In this book the author details her process for identifying 'fatal flaws' in character, that make dogs unsuitable for the role, as well as identifying the more important 'key aspects' of successful selection.
What comes home to me the most through the book, is just how special a hearing dog must be. And how complex and clever, the assessment and training process detailed within the book, is.
The need to be a companion animal, a natural interest in sounds, a lack of fearfulness, or the ability to recovery from fearful situations quickly, the ability to cope in high stress public environments and the ability to get on with people, young and old, in a variety of challenging situations are all desirable character traits for this special kind of dog.
The fact that the author and the hearing dog program folks can go into rescue shelters and deal with the inevitable emotional fall out as a result, in an effort to do very inspiring things, inspires me! First they chose dogs that have 'failed' as pets, sometimes partly because of their own special characters traits, (Sound reactivity, hyper energy, high curiosity) and then they pair them with suitable human candidates. What an incredibly admirable and beneficial way to spend a life.
The ONLY thing that I think this book fails in, is its own potential audience reach. The title itself has inadvertently limited the potential audience. This is a book that any person interested in dog behaviour, or those wishing to chose to rehome a shelter or rescue dog, would benefit from. It is a complex read, but it has some real gems of information in it and is well written and well structured.
If you really want to know about character of dogs, about what makes dogs extrovert, introvert, reactive, non reactive, aggressive, non aggressive, viable for rehoming, viable as a pet, or as a working dog, then this is definitely a great book to be reading!
Well done Martha Hoffman, for an amazing insight into an amazing world. And for making me see things I already knew, in a new way, but also for teaching me things I didn't know - even after all my years in the dog training and behaviour world, I find this book has taught me more new things, than any other I have ever read! Brilliant. Really enjoyed it!
I've been working full time in dog behaviour and training for many years now and the number of books I have read on the subject has to be many hundreds! But this one stands out for me, as one of the most technically competent things I've ever read, about dogs.
In this book the Author goes into incredible detail about identifying character traits that are suitable and necessary for the role of a hearing dog (A Dog who helps its deaf or hard of hearing owner, identify when crucial sounds like smoke alarms, the telephone, etc., occur).
The authors breadth of experience is most impressive and vast, having assessed many thousands of dogs in rehoming shelters for their suitability. Its great to read of someone who really knows their stuff, talk about their stuff and talk about it with such passion too!
In this book the author details her process for identifying 'fatal flaws' in character, that make dogs unsuitable for the role, as well as identifying the more important 'key aspects' of successful selection.
What comes home to me the most through the book, is just how special a hearing dog must be. And how complex and clever, the assessment and training process detailed within the book, is.
The need to be a companion animal, a natural interest in sounds, a lack of fearfulness, or the ability to recovery from fearful situations quickly, the ability to cope in high stress public environments and the ability to get on with people, young and old, in a variety of challenging situations are all desirable character traits for this special kind of dog.
The fact that the author and the hearing dog program folks can go into rescue shelters and deal with the inevitable emotional fall out as a result, in an effort to do very inspiring things, inspires me! First they chose dogs that have 'failed' as pets, sometimes partly because of their own special characters traits, (Sound reactivity, hyper energy, high curiosity) and then they pair them with suitable human candidates. What an incredibly admirable and beneficial way to spend a life.
The ONLY thing that I think this book fails in, is its own potential audience reach. The title itself has inadvertently limited the potential audience. This is a book that any person interested in dog behaviour, or those wishing to chose to rehome a shelter or rescue dog, would benefit from. It is a complex read, but it has some real gems of information in it and is well written and well structured.
If you really want to know about character of dogs, about what makes dogs extrovert, introvert, reactive, non reactive, aggressive, non aggressive, viable for rehoming, viable as a pet, or as a working dog, then this is definitely a great book to be reading!
Well done Martha Hoffman, for an amazing insight into an amazing world. And for making me see things I already knew, in a new way, but also for teaching me things I didn't know - even after all my years in the dog training and behaviour world, I find this book has taught me more new things, than any other I have ever read! Brilliant. Really enjoyed it!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews