When I had a hearing cat…

Hello on this rather grey Monday. This week looks set to be a busy one at work, a fun one at play and a lunch-hour-filled one of being yelled at by a very over-zealous spinning instructor.

Last week, three people walked out of her class in the first 10 minutes. I stuck it out and even when she was yelling, ‘MORE, MORE!’ and ‘YOU’RE NOT TRYING!’ at the top of her voice and my little legs could barely turn the bike peddles, I kept thinking, ‘No pain, no gain.’

The following morning it was actually be case of ‘Lots of pain, can’t walk!’ but hey ho, it is actually quite good fun, once you get past the lungs-feeling-like-they’re-going-to-explode warm-up.

Anyway, Deafinitely Girly has something she’d like to share with you. After speaking to someone at Drama Queen’s wedding who works with assistance dogs, I have decided I would very much like a hearing dog.

So today I went online and checked all the criteria and I meet it – the guy at the wedding also confirmed that he thought I would – so I then had a look at how to apply.

So popular is Hearing Dogs for the Deaf that it is not taking new applications until 2012 and there’s a five-year wait for a dog…

*sniff

That seems like an awful long time, and it made me think, if they had more money, would the waiting list get shorter?

If that’s the case, then it’s time for DG to do some fundraising. I’m not sure what I’m going to do yet – a sponsored run? Eek! A bake sale? Yum! A sponsored silence? Hahahahahaha ahem…

Well, there are endless possibilities! And lovely reader peeps, I urge you to think of Hearing Dogs for the Deaf as a charity when you next want to raise money. You’ve only got to look at the website to see the amazing difference these wonderful dogs make to the lives of so many people.

I already know what it’s like to have an animal who alerts you to things. When I was growing up and growing deaf, I had a cat called Toddy – he was the kitten of our other cat so I had known him since he was a wriggling ball of eye-closed fur… and he was all mine.

He used to sleep on my bed every night and spend most of his indoor time in my bedroom, too. I once spent a whole afternoon trying to get him to speak and another time, I showed him flashcards to see if he could learn to read.

Unsurprisingly, he could do neither…

But what he could do was alert me to high-pitched sounds that happened in the house when I was at home. This was probably because he didn’t like them, but nevertheless, wherever I was in the house, if there was a high-pitched noise, Toddy would come and find me and bug me until I stopped it.

This worked for our whistling kettle, telephone, smoke alarm, and violin… except I was the one playing the violin and as a result I had a flouncing cat huffing at my feet whenever I practised and, seeing as I was going deafer at this point, I really can’t blame him for wanting me to shut up.

Now, I have my neighbour to alert me to any noises in my flat – she too flounces around in a catty manner, although it’s not nearly as endearing.

But until I get myself a hearing dog, I guess she will just have to do…