International

Hearing Dog Reba was just placed a few

months ago and already made a heroic rescue! Here's her story, told by her recipient
AnnaMarie on November 4. On the morning of
Sept. 26th 2015, I went to work to find my client,
whom is a quadriplegic due to MS, unresponsive with
a fever of 106.1, B/P 68/42, oxygen level 68% on 3
liters of oxygen, pulse was low, almost undetectable
& her respirations were quick & shallow. She was
basically standing in line in front of the Pearly
Gates. My usual routine when I get there in the
morning is to get the coffee going, take her two dogs
out to potty, then come back in and make breakfast
& get the coffee and medication. That morning Reba
tried to dart into the bedroom, trying to forgo our
usual morning run of the mill retain. In the kitchen
she was spazzy, trying everything in her power to get
my attention. I just gave a gentle tug on her leash &
told her, Easy. She quieted down, but you could
tell she didnt want to, I put the coffee on, got the
other dogs ready & started to head for the door. I
picked her up and told her, Look girl, Ms. Kathy is
sleeping. You can tell her good morning in just a minute lets let her rest for a few more minutes. My
client had had an infusion earlier in the week and
was still feeling drained from the treatment, which
she normally felt for a few days afterwards. Reba
wasnt happy about not being able to get on the bed
to say, Good morning right then, but went along
with what I said; reluctantly. When I got back in
from taking the other two dogs out, I didnt even get
a chance to take them off their leashes and she was
in my face jumping up & down. Ive NEVER seen her
act like this. This time I said, Reba!, what is it? I
performed her vitals and immediately called 911. The
first responders were there within moments. We
rode to the hospital in the ambulance with all the
lights flashing and the sirens blaring. It never even
fazed her. Reba stayed by my side, not making a
move, in the ER, MRI & CAT Scan exam rooms, where
there were plenty of sounds for her to alert me
to. Even when they moved my client to a room in the
critical care unit, Reba was still
very professional. When the hospital personnel spoke to me, she
would look at them intensely with
professionalism, like she understood everything they were saying.
They had to perform a tracheotomy on my client. She had a very
bad UTI, was badly septic and had
asperative pneumonia. She is
now in a respite center, where she
is learning how to live with her tracheotomy.

Hearing Dogs Inc.

On March 17, 2015, Lady Bug was rescued. She
is a one year old terrier/corgi mix that we transferred from the Adams County Animal Shelter
back in March 2015. When we first got Lady
Bug, she had been found as a stray and was only
about seven months old. Lady Bug is very playful and energetic and she is smart as a
whip! She already knows her door knock as well
as the smoke alarm sounds, and she just started
working on responding to the sound of the telephone ringing. Once Lady Bug finishes her training, she will be placed with Hearing Recipient
Janet in Estes Park, Colorado. Janet is a very
active
hiker
and
landscape
photographer
and
would
greatly
benefit
from
having a dog to alert her if anyone comes up
behind her while out on her hikes. She also
needs a Hearing Dog to help her with her balance and coordination. Lady Bug will be incredibly lucky to be able to go on hikes all the time
while working!

Rufus the Firefighter. Since Rufus was

placed with Pam, she writes to us periodically to let us know how they are
doing. Here is one of Pam's recent stories, in her words. Recently, my family
stayed with me for about a week. A few
days after they left, Rufus jumped up
and ran to the back bedroom and
jumped up on the bed next to the window. He just stood there looking at me,
staring. I have never seen him get onto
any of the beds here unless you call
him up. I thought, okay, there must be
one of the toys making a noise so I
checked all around and under the bed.
I found a few little toys but they were
the kind that do not make noise so I
called him out of there. Rufus signaled
me again and ran to the back bedroom
and up on the bed. It seemed he
was staring more intensely. I said,
"Rufie, I am tired; please tell me what
is wrong." This time when I looked under the bed, I saw a small light coming from between the mattress and the
wall. I got up and pulled the bed
away from the wall and saw a night
light in the socket there. I took it out
of the socket but I immediately
dropped it as it was so hot! The drapes
were partly opened but covering the
socket where the night light was. There
was a brown scorch mark on the white
liner where the drape was against the
night light. Im sure, that if it was left, a
fire would have started sometime during the night. Rufus must have smelled
something that wasnt right. He is
amazing. After I praised him and gave
him a treat, he was happy and hasnt
bothered with that room since.