The beautiful Chloe.

Many of us have loved a dog and been loved by a dog. It is always a profound experience. But what if that dog was so much more that “just” your dog? What if that dog quite literally held the keys to your freedom – or even your survival?

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), in April 2021, over 5% of the world’s population – or 430 million people – require rehabilitation to address their ‘disabling’ hearing loss (432 million adults and 34 million children). Yet, because it is a disability not immediately obvious to others, seldom do people stop to think of the impact of being deaf in a hearing world.

The effects are many and varied, and impact on communication and speech, cognition, education and employment, social isolation, loneliness and stigma. The spectrum of being “hearing impaired” ranges from missing part of a conversation all the way through to living in a completely silent world. Things that the hearing world takes for granted create seemingly insurmountable challenges for someone who is partially or completely deaf. These obstacles range from missing most of a conversation, or hearing only part of a joke and thus not understanding the punchline, or a vague embarrassment about being seen with a hearing aid, all the way through to being born totally deaf, never hearing a bird, the roar of a lion, the wind in the trees or the waves breaking on a beach. Imagine not ‘hearing’ music – and having to rely on only ‘feeling’ the beat? Have you ever considered how difficult it would be to learn to talk if you couldn’t hear another (or even your own) voice? Imagine not being able to hear an approaching car or something dangerous looming? Add Epilepsy, and you’re starting to get an idea of the reality of Martin de Haas’ life…

Chloe with her KUSA Good Citizen awards.

Martin was born with sensorineural hearing loss, and over time his hearing has deteriorated. He also suffers from epilepsy (complex partial seizures). Medication has helped to minimize seizures, but some days he can still have multiple seizures, most of which are not visible. As a rule, people are unaware of the situation, be it the seizures or not having heard them – which often leads to misunderstandings. He suffers from depression, is unable to work, always needs someone with him and, most of the time, he needs someone to drive him around. Enter Chloe…

“Chloe has turned my world upside down - a new beginning to a different lifestyle. Whether I am working in the garden, sitting on the veranda or working in my garage- just having Chloe by my side makes a difference to me. Chloe makes me feel more secure outdoors as well as indoors - alerting me to sounds and movement. One downside is that people who are uninformed about service dogs are sometimes confrontational – management and security at restaurants, shops and malls can often be difficult.” Martin de Haas.

Chloe was donated to Medical Alert Dogs SA as a puppy by a registered reputable breeder. She was matched as a hearing dog for Martin de Haas when she was just over a year old and had completed her puppy raising phase. Due to the complex nature of Chloe’s tasks, and the need to respond to seizures as well as hearing events, Chloe was trained as a multipurpose service dog, i.e. hearing, psychiatric, and seizure response.

“Martin is mostly deaf, has chronic anxiety, and has frequent minor seizures throughout the day of which he is often unaware. His hands will shake and twitch, and he will disassociate. Chloe was taught to identify this and interrupt it with her paws. She was also trained to respond to his ringtone and alarm tone on his phone, as well as alert Martin when somebody is calling his name out of sight ("excuse me / askies" or "Martin"). She also moves ahead of him to check around blind corners and will respond if somebody is there. She sits between Martin’s legs for tactile stimulation/calming and really is an awesome calming companion for him. As you can imagine, being mostly deaf affects Martin's self-esteem, and can make the world a pretty intimidating place. People think he is rude if he does not respond when they call him. During their two week graduation workshop, Martin learnt how to read Chloe's ears and body language, so that he can be even more aware of noises around him.” Lucy Breytenbach (Medical Alert Dogs SA).

“The world can be a pretty intimidating place…”

Lucy Breytenbach, the founder of Honey’s Garden Medical Alert Dogs is a qualified Canine Behaviour Practitioner with a BSc (Hons) in Animal Science, Behaviour and Welfare from the University of Plymouth, United Kingdom. With a practitioners level qualification in Canine Behaviour from The Ethology Academy, she has over 10 years of experience in training dogs. In 2014, she was asked if she could train a Diabetic Alert Dog (DAD). Initially confused, she did some research into service dog training within South Africa and was surprised to find that this type (among many others) of service dog simply did not exist. She set to work with the help of her fabulous team and started fundraising to get herself qualified. Eventually, with the assistance and expertise of world-renowned dog behaviourist Debby Kay from West Virginia USA, Lucy set to work creating a training program for Diabetic Alert Dogs. After the success of Honey (the first dog), Lucy decided to do further research and start training service dogs to help with other needs, such as seizure response, psychiatric assistance and hearing dogs for the deaf, amongst others. Honey’s Garden for Medical Alert Dogs SA was formed, and the rest, as they say, is history.

“Chloe has turned my world upside down…”

Wherever possible, Honey’s Garden uses rescue dogs from a variety of re-homing organisations. They love giving dogs a second chance at life. They also accept donated puppies from breeders who have dogs who would suit and thrive in their program. The qualities needed to be a service dog are strict and although they do not harp on what breed the dog is, they need to have the correct character and work ethic in order to have a future career as a service dog. As a full-time occupation, it is not an easy career path for a dog, so they need to know that the dogs will reliably assist their future families and enjoy the work that they do.

At this point, you may well be asking why we’re sharing this story with you… Well, Cross Country Insurance Company was one of the proud sponsors who assisted in making this happen for Martin. “Maya Angelou once said that she’d learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands. You need to be able to throw something back. At Cross Country we believe that we are part of the larger community. If we are able to contribute, in some small way, to making a person’s life easier, then we are happy to do so…” says Ian Georgeson, CEO of Cross Country.

#givingback #servicedogs #mustlovedogs

Jacqui Ikin & The Cross Country Team

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