What We Do > Our Dogs

What Hearing and Service Dogs Do

Texas Hearing and Service Dogs trains dogs to assist Texans living with hearing or mobility challenges. We adopt every dog in our program from an animal shelter, rescue group or occasional owner release. We invest $17,500 and one year to train each Hearing or Service Dog team (dog and person). Thanks to your donations, we provide the dogs and training free of charge.

Hearing Dogs alert their deaf partners by touch and lead them to a variety of important everyday sounds, including a knock at the door, a smoke alarm, an alarm clock and a baby's cry. They respond to oral and sign language commands.

Service Dogs assist physically challenged individuals by opening doors and refrigerators, fetching out of reach wheelchairs, retrieving dropped items, turning lights on and off, getting help and moving paralyzed limbs. They also perform customized tasks such as assistance with clothing and specialized equipment.

We also train Service Dogs to assist persons with balance while walking, e.g. people who have had polio, strokes or Parkinson's.

Hearing and Service Dogs also provide emotional and social benefits through companionship and encouragement of greater interaction from others.

When you see a Hearing or Service Dog in Public

You may see a person using a Hearing or Service Dog, or even a Trainer, in a public place like the shopping mall. Texas and U.S. law allow public access with the dogs. When you see a person with a Hearing or Service Dog, you can ask them, "May I pet your dog?" If they say yes, follow their instructions on how to pet the dog. That way, you show respect for the person and do not interfere with the dog's training.

Texas Hearing and Service Dogs uses positive training methods. We do not use any force, punishment or corrections in our training methods. We use fun, rewards and lots of surprises to keep our dogs motivated and eager to please.