Toad Alley Working Frenchies
NEW!! click here for a link to working dog article

above article by Janice Grebe from JUST FRENCHIES MAGAZINE
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Below, Toad Alley HenryHuggins with his little friend, Peaches. Henry is a Working Hearing Dog

We donated Toad Alley Henry Huggins to the SF/SPCA Hearing DogProgram. He was a bold and happy pup who was very curious about sounds, and loved children. His bouncy energy level focused itself in sound alerting, and his desire to interact with people made him a great companion and "out-and-about" Hearing Dog. UPDATE: Congratulations, Henry! Henry is now coming up to his third year after graduation, when he was partnered with a Deaf artist in Berkeley. His other beloved companion is "Peaches", her 19-year-old, 3 pound, 3-legged Chihuahua mix. Henry is a large young Frenchie, but very careful of Peaches, and can't go to sleep unless she is next to him. He enjoys going everywhere with his owner, alerts to sounds around the house, and has learned not to bother his owner's artwork, which is themed on inventive Barbie Doll dioramas- very tempting for a curious dog! He has a great life with a yard with a shallow fishpond (He runs thru the fish pond- disturbing the mosquito fish but having lots of fun), and goes to art galleries and everywhere with his partner.

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Central Coast Outreach news, Feb 1 2006.

At this demo, I was surprised to see the local news TV crew, following us around with big cameras. But Henry at ten months old put on a great show. A little 4 year old Deaf boy kept breaking away from his mom to come see Henry and look at the sound equipment. So I rang the phone, it rang and flashed a light, and Henry ran to the phone. When he came back, I gave the boy a treat and stood behind him so Henry would touch the boy instead of me, then we followed Henry back to the phone. The boy opened the treat box and rewarded Henry. So after that, this talented kid did the other sounds with Henry, they were so cute together! When the boy went back to his mom, I signed to Henry “Where’s your friend”  (name call exercise so the dog can go and get people) and he went alert him so we could do some more sounds. That was not only a fun demo, it was good practice for Henry for when he graduates and goes to his Deaf or hard-of-hearing family. Henry should graduate in June, we’ll keep the site updated on his adventures!

“Google Me”  is going to her next stage of training at Dogs For Diabetics. She is a year old now, and is going to a foster home where she can be taken to D4D for her scent training five times a week. She’ll get treats and praise for alerting to the hypoglycemic scent, building on her earlier training. Now she’ll have the diabetic members of D4D actually working with her and teaching her the real-life alerting.

Diabetic Hypoglycemia & Cancer Detection Training

Toad Alley Gorilla Girl, doing a diabetic and cancer detection demo for a group of 30 Japanese service-dog trainer students. She's 5 months old. She is here getting clicker trained to indicate the container with the hypoglycemic scent sample. She's been imprinted from birth on diabetic and cancer odor, starting with mom's milk (on mom's nipples, and sucking on milk squeezed onto our fingers with the odor); the pups are exposed to the odors when feeding during the first ten days of life when scent imprinting happens, and then later exposed to the odors when feeding solid food. Dad is from Monet: Toad Alley Where the Wildthings Are("Rumpus") x Mom: Vanna Dei Boulegatti (Italian import from International judge Luigi Gatti's Boulegatti kennels, De La Parure lines.)

Toad Alley Residents are actively working on Cancer Detection and Diabetic Alert as well as Hearing Dog Duties!

Above, left, "Amelia",at six months ,and at right, 'Eggplant", BOTH are CERF certified

Amelia, ( "Echecs Goodtime Aviatrix" )by CH. Cox's Goodtime Barnstormer x Ch. Echecs California Girl) had a show career and worked along with Eggplant, as a "mentor dog" at Kathy and Martha's workplaces. Amelia is now retired and serving as lap dog and artist's model with well known dog artist, Susan Stafford. "Eggplant" is now spayed career changed as a therapy dog.

Eggplant and Amelia had worked with me (Martha) as Hearing Dog and Demo Dog for Hearing Dogs. At the San Francisco SPCA Hearing Dog Program, we have never trained a Frenchie, mostly because I've thankfully never seen one in a shelter to adopt for the job, but I've discovered that this breed has a real talent for Hearing Dog work.

The main requirement is a "people dog" that is never fearful and loves everyone, and is completely at one with it's partner. They need to be reactive and curious about sounds, and GREEDY. (Sounds like a Frenchie, right?) We train the sound alerting with food, play and praise. We want high motivation for the dog to wake up if a sound happens, and zoom to it's partner and pester them into action. So, treats and play help our goal of making the phone ring (or smoke alarm, timer, kid calling for Mom, doorbell, etc.) the most exciting event of the day for the dog, an opportunity for a fun game. These training methods help a Frenchie think the "work" is it's own idea, not some human-inspired drudgery that focuses the famous Frenchie strong-mindedness in the wrong direction (also known as "stubborn" responses).

Of course, the breed is so specialized that they shouldn't be promoted as Hearing Dogs, but for anyone who is already obsessed with Frenchies and has a hearing loss- why not?

One nice quality of Frenchies "Mentor Dogs" is the combination of playful good nature with a refusal to be bullied or trampled by boisterous young dogs that need some social manners. They are able to tell a dog to "back off" in a nonviolent way, (or if needed by horrifying noises or a head-butt!), and then the fun begins again. Puppies and shelter dogs often lack social skills, and playing with the Frenchies makes a real difference.

Find More about Hearing Dogs in Martha's critically acclaimed book, "Lend Me An Ear"available now through amazon.com -To order, just type "Lend Me An Ear"

Felix Sunga training "Eggplant" at Hearing Dogs

Pictured below, our new star Monet's Where the Wild Things Are -"Rumpus" as a young pup

click here to see a video of RUMPUS working

Above, Rumpus at ten months old, working some Hearing Dog Program Exercises. Below, doing a demo with Martha.