Yorkie Helps Family With Disability

A story from the UK I found -

Sometimes people forget that little dogs can
be much more than just fashion accessories or toys

for celebrities to carry around in purses.

All too often little dogs are not given much discipline or

direction and they become nasty little beasts as they grow up.

Sadly, this reflects on the entire breed.

But it isn’t just the big, mature dogs—the Golden Retrievers,

and German Shepherds—that work as service dogs.

Small dogs work especially well in situations with young children.

One tiny young black Yorkshire Terrier

has shown that he can be extremely crucial in

helping a family with disabilities.
A national charity, Hearing Dogs for Deaf People,

honored Frazier, a Yorkshire Terrier hearing dog.

His owner, Dawn Munslow, is deaf.

She has three small children; one is also deaf and two

have special needs. Frazier had been with the family for only

4 ½ months, when he proved himself to be a vital family

member and now they can’t imagine life without him.

One morning Frazier came up to Dawn and tapped

her with his paw as he has been taught to do when the

doorbell rings, but this time the tapping was a lot more urgent.

She quickly followed him upstairs where her four

year old daughter had collapsed and was crying in pain.

She rushed her daugher to the hospital.

Hearing Dogs for Deaf People selects and trains dogs

to respond to sounds and to alert deaf people by touching them

with a paw and leading them back to the source of the sound.

For smoke and fire alarms they are trained to lie down.

Seventy-four per cent of them are rescued or unwanted dogs.

After training they are provided at no charge to the people

who need them. More than 1200 hearing dogs have

been placed since it was begin in 1982.