Mutts Usually Chosen for Better Dispositions : Dogs for the Deaf Project Fills a Silent Void

At the sound of the knock, a young mutt named Roody padded over to the door to look, then walked back into the kitchen and pawed at Cary Voorhees to get her attention.

“Good girl, Roody,” Voorhees said, enthusiastically petting the dog as it led her to the door.

Roody, a 10-month-old stray with the spots of an Australian shepherd, was undergoing training at Dogs for the Deaf, the oldest training center in the country for hearing-ear dogs.

Orange Collar and Leash

Dogs for the Deaf was founded 10 years ago on a former dairy farm near this rustic southern Oregon town. Each graduate earns an orange collar and leash and becomes the ears for a deaf person who has been waiting as long as a year.

“We have people tell us after they get a dog that they never realized how many people came over and they just didn’t hear them at the door,” said Robin Dickson, who took over running Dogs for the Deaf after the death of her father, Roy Kabat, the founder.

A smart dog led Kabat to start Dogs for the Deaf, his daughter explained.

“There was a deaf lady in Minnesota,” she said. “She had a dog that had trained itself to let her know when there was a sound.

“The dog got hit and killed by a car. She went to her audiologist and said, ‘You’ve got to get me another dog.’

Trained Dogs for Movies

“He contacted the American Humane Society in Denver, and they called my dad in. He had worked for many years training dogs for movies in Southern California and was retired. He became so intrigued by it that he came back here and started Dogs for the Deaf.”

Pins in a map on the office wall show that the 300 dogs placed by Dogs for the Deaf are spread from coast to coast, with heavy concentrations in the big cities.

“We very carefully screen the applicants,” Dickson said. “If you can hear a smoke alarm go off, you don’t need a dog.”

Deaf people who have someone at home who can hear are ineligible.

“They also have to be able to physically and financially care for a dog once they get it,” Dickson said. “Sometimes we can arrange a sponsor for a dog if a person can’t afford it.”

Playful, Alert

The four trainers go to Humane Society shelters around Oregon and Northern California to find small to medium-sized dogs that are playful, alert and comfortable around people. “If you had a great big Great Dane jumping up on you to let you know the phone was ringing, that wouldn’t be so good,” Dickson said.

The dogs mostly are mutts.

“So many purebreds are so inbred that their disposition and temperament are destroyed,” Dickson said.

About half of the dogs flunk out before their three to six months of training is done, trainer Doreen James said.

“Stubbornness is one of the major reasons,” she said. “That doesn’t show up for one to three months. It’s lots of fun for them until they realize they have to do it all the time.”

In a one-bedroom apartment built in the loft of the old dairy barn, the dogs learn to respond to a telephone, a knock at the door, a smoke alarm, an oven buzzer and a baby’s cry.

Used to the Bustle

Trainers also take the dogs to nearby Grants Pass and Medford to get used to the bustle of stores, being around people and riding in cars.

The dogs are rewarded by praise, attention and play.

“You have to be really up,” Voorhees said. “Some dogs take a week to learn to put their paws on the table.”

Once the dog is ready, the trainer takes it to the recipient, spending five days there while they get used to each other.

A fully trained dog represents an investment of $3,000, which is covered by contributions from supporters of the program.

“We get more people who send us donations to help the dogs than to help the deaf people,” Dickson said. “We help save the unwanted dogs, so they want to help us.”

Intense Flashing Lights

Dogs are by no means the only aids for the deaf, who nowadays can choose from an array of mechanical devices, including smoke alarms with intense flashing lights, alarm clocks that flash or make the bed shake, and bracelets that vibrate at the sound of a baby crying.

Demand is also growing for telecommunications devices for the deaf, keyboards known as TDDs that plug into the phone to allow people to type messages to each other, and decoders for closed-caption television.

“It’s a very big market, and it’s growing rapidly,” said Debbie Ander, vice president of marketing for COMPU-TTY, a national distributor for aids for the deaf based in Ft. Worth, Tex.

Anita Farb, administrative assistant for the National Assn. of the Deaf in Silver Spring, Md., said the 16 million Americans with hearing problems are demanding more as they become aware of what is available.

Demand Is Growing

The demand for hearing-ear dogs is steadily growing, Dickson said.

To meet the demand, Dogs for the Deaf is moving to bigger quarters in Central Point, where there will be kennels for 60 dogs instead of 25, and four training apartments instead of one.

“The dogs give unconditional love,” Dickson said. “To a lot of deaf people, this is the most important thing, because they lead such isolated lives.”