Kristi Nolde-Morrissey
Diamond Dogz of Arizona will be starting a new session of hearing dog training classes on June 4 at the Devonshire Senior Center in central Phoenix. Classes are held each Monday from 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Students learn the skills they need to train their OWN dog to alert to a variety of sounds, including the door, phone, dropped items, name being called, fire alarm, running water, approaching people/cars, etc.
Hearing dogs alert their partner with a paw touch or nose nudge to get their attention and then run to the location of the sound. By carefully observing a dog’s body language (ears, direction of head, etc.), a hearing dog user is alerted to many environmental sounds that occur in public.
Diamond Dogz of Arizona in Phoenix is an all-volunteer, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization which was created to provide training and certification to hearing service dog teams for those that are deaf or hard of hearing. Please see their website, www.diamonddogzaz.org, for more information, contact them by email at [email protected] or call/text their head trainer, Kristi Nolde-Morrissey, at 602-882-4479.