I had a dog for fourteen years, through epilepsy, congestive heart failure, and three different cities. So when Roman came home this past February, I figured I knew what I was doing.
I did not. Being a second-time dog owner and a first-time service dog owner turn out to be very different jobs.
Why a service dog, and why now
My hearing loss has been declining for a while, and I’m working on embracing that instead of white-knuckling through it. A service dog was something I’d been loosely mapping out in the background, especially as the possibility of kids gets closer to reality. I rely more heavily on closed captions in daily situations, not just on TV and social media. Sounds I can’t reliably hear are one thing when it’s just me (though I am learning more and more how unsafe that may be). They’re another when a baby is in the next room.
So the question became: what kind of dog fits this life?
We live in a small-ish high-rise condo. A full-size retriever would be a great service dog in theory, but a smaller retriever would be easier to live with and easier to travel with. Enter the mini golden. I found Roman on Instagram through Taylormade Mini Goldens. To be honest it was quite serendipitous when I discovered him, as his original buyer backed out and I swooped in literally at the right moment. bonus for me, his dad’s lineage includes a couple of therapy/service dogs. He’s a golden/cocker spaniel/poodle mix, 36 pounds, cream-colored, and sized for high-rise elevators and strollers. (He used to ride in a stroller. My last dog did too, so some traditions carry over.)
“What does a service dog do for hearing loss?”
This was easily the first and most-asked question everyone wanted to know, and it’s a fair one. The short version is sound alerts: alarms, timers, the doorbell, the noises I likely won’t catch myself.
The long version is a progression:
Phase one: Roman learns to notice specific sounds and signal me.
Phase two: He adds an action, like leading me to the source, whether that’s the oven, the microwave, or the front door.
The dream-world phase: He learns the difference between types of baby cries and brings me a bottle, a diaper, or some other symbol of what’s needed. (Doesn’t have to be baby related of course, but #goals.)
I know that last one is wishful thinking. It would take an extraordinary amount of intuition from a dog, and I’m not building my plans around it. But I’m leaving it on the vision board for sure.
Where we are
I’ve done all the training myself so far. Roman knows his basic commands at home: sit, stand, down, spin, and paw/shake. We’ve introduced item identification like ball vs toy vs bone, which is the first hint of that retriever heritage kicking in. Next up is leaning into retrieving and starting sound work. (Totally going to attempt a clean-up command, again #goals.)
Transparently, we also have to negotiate his preferences versus mine. He refuses to sit on concrete or asphalt. He truly does not like to put his bottom on the sidewalk. For the most part I don’t fight it. He’s extremely social and friendly, sometimes too much so. I joke I need to open a retail shop sooner rather than later because he would thrive as a shop-dog getting to greet everyone everyday.
While he’s maturing and currently 11 months old, he’s also still very much a puppy. We’ve noticed he does exceptionally well in training in tiny bursts, no more than 10 attempts per session. When he gets overwhelmed it’s like he starts to glitch and will voluntarily cycle through all his commands at once. He self-potty trained to prefer outdoors, much to my chagrin as the cold weather approaches Chicago (I really thought I was doing a good job training both indoor and outdoor but one day a switch flipped on its own. Sigh.)
In terms of travel, he’s “okay” and we’re working on his plane behavior (all of our sweet seat mates have all said he’s been a dream, but I see subtle signs of distress and anxiety we need to rein in soon). He’s excellent in a car but hates being confined to the safety of car seat.
What I’m learning
Raising Roman looks different from raising my last dog, Muffin. This time around I work from home, so he’s with me every day, and I chose him with a specific job in mind. I’m learning, out loud, how to ask a dog to help with something I’m still learning to say out loud myself.
So far I’ve only met one other sound-alert service dog and they were visiting from Alaska - naturally the dog was struggling with all of the city sounds compared to their quiet life at home. If you’ve done self-service dog training before, or you’re thinking about it, I’d love to hear from you.
