Day 43: Conquering the Alarm

Gracie the Wonder Dog!

Amazingly, the explosions of July 4th celebrations that began at the end of June and will probably continue until Target runs out of fire works do not bother Gracie.  Thanks to Jesse Ventura, the former Navy Seal,  professional wrestler, and one-term governor of Minnesota, fire works are legal here.  I personally have had enough of "bombs bursting in air," but I guess the intermittent and startling explosions (which I can hear but not locate) have me empathizing with the citizens of Iraq, Afghanistan, and now Libya.  How awful it must be to live with actual bombs bursting in air for years rather than a mere month.  I think we will sit out the big displays tonight.  Meanwhile, Gracie and I continue our recommended, twice a day sound practice.  There is no holiday for a hearing dog.

Gracie's indifference to the noise of fire works makes her response to the sounds we practice even more amazing to me.  Because she does "smoke detector" so well, I decided a couple weeks ago to start working on "alarm clock."  I went to Target (where I saw huge displays of fire works--sigh!) and bought a small alarm clock with the singular function of being an alarm clock.  Like the smoke detector, I cannot hear this alarm without my hearing aids on.  Just as no one wears glasses to bed, no one wears hearing aides at night--not that I know of anyway.  Ever since, we have been practicing alarm clock along with fire alarm.  It took a few days for Gracie to pay any attention to the clock's alarm.  I had to hold her leash and give it a pull as soon as the alarm sounded as the "You and Your Hearing Dog" pamphlet suggests.  Practice time is playtime for Gracie.  She gets very excited to show her stuff and is pleased with herself for doing what she's been trained to do.  "Act excited," Martha told me when she was here, and I do.  We both do.  It is exciting!

This morning, Gracie and I went for a run.  After my shower, I thought we would lie down again for a bit and, at the same time, practice "alarm clock."  I set the alarm to go off in twenty minutes.  Gracie got the basket that she sleeps in at night, and I lay down and promptly fell asleep.  Exactly twenty minutes later, Gracie jumped up on me and woke me up.  I was so excited!  She's got that one down.   I plan to set the alarm every night now.  I know I will sleep better knowing that she is keeping track of when we need to get up.  This is a big breakthrough for us!!  Gracie is my superhero!