Introduction
 I was born in Reormond and have two sisters and 2 brothers. One of my sisters is a Guide Dog for a blind human, the others all look after human families, because we all know that humans without a dog to look after them are all sad and lonely.
When I was very young I went to school in Hilversum and learnt to become a Disability Assistance & Hearing Dog. When I graduated I was assigned to look after an elderly human lady in Maastricht who was deaf and disabled. Sadly after just six months with her she became to infirm to take out for walks and eventually went into a special human home. However I decided to look after a much younger deaf human lady called Judith, and this is who I have worked with for the last 3 and a half years. It has been a good move and I get to live in a big house with a large garden, with plenty of good food and a daily fur brushing. Now my duties include listening out for some human puppies because my mistress Judith has a growing litter but cannot hear them at all.
What Does A Hearing Dog Do ?
 We Dogs can be trained to "hear" for deaf people. We dogs let our humans know when the telephone rings or if the smoke alarm or alarm clock goes off. We can alert the owner when there is an intruder in the house. We can even alert our human to a baby's cry, something I will be doing very soon as one of my humans is expecting a puppy very soon now. Listening out for the children has become one of my most important roles since my mistresses have adopt two human puppies. Out in the street I alert Judith & the human puppy Nicholas, who is also deaf to things approaching us from behind, or if I think they are in any immediate danger. I can also let them know if I think someone is try to address them and they are not noticing. As my mistress relies on her computer a lot I have learnt to listen out for when a message comes in on her pc for and go and find her where ever she is in the house or garden so that she can answer it. As I am also trained as a disability assistance dog I can do a lot of fetching and carrying chores for my mistress, this is often very helpful to her as she has damaged hips.
Hobbies & Interests
Being chased by the cats.
Playing & swimming in water.
Sleeping by the fire.
Dragging Judith around the park.
Annoying Jos, the human puppy Hilke's disability assistance dog, he is a bit pompous so I like to tease him !
Helping Humans
 Some of us dogs can be training to perform several or even all of these roles for those people who are unfortunate enough to have disabilities that span several of the above categories. The Assistance Dog Education program focuses on the psychology of learning, upbringing versus genetics, developmental stages and the socio-biological concepts of partnership between dogs and individuals whose limited physical strength or sensory capabilities makes functioning on their own a difficult. The essence of this coursework is to ensure that assistance dogs are an asset and an unobtrusive helpmate.
Physically Disabled
 For the Physically Disabled we offer mobility for people in wheelchairs because we can turn on and off lights for their owners who can't use their arms, we can also push elevator buttons, something I like to do but it seems to annoy humans. We assist at ATMs, pull wheelchairs and retrieve items for their owner. Most service dogs are Labrador Retrievers or Golden Retrievers like Jos and I. We assistance dogs are trained to act as stabilisers to disabled people when they are walking, something my human Judith makes use when her hips are giving her problems. The human puppy Hilke here has a spinal problem and my buddy Jos helps her to walk in a steady manner, and protects her from all sorts of trouble that human puppies are always getting into.
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