Cool

[Beer Snob]

Well thats much easier. Now I reply or make a thread and get email if someone replies. You know how hard it is to remember which threads you wrote to

The Aviator picture, by the way, is not from the net. That's my hearing dog and brewing assistant, Thunder. That bone he is chewing on is one of the few things that actually survive his abuse. My experience with large dogs is exceedingly limited. I must have gone through $60 of toys before finding some that he wont distroy. One of the "Indistructable" toys I got for him initially had lasted a total of 3 minutes before he took a chunk out of it.

 

[Mr_Turtlehead]

I'll bet Thunder comes in handy for blowoff messes! I had a black lab for 15 years...best damn dog ever!

 

[sudsmonkey]

I'll bet Thunder comes in handy for blowoff messes! I had a black lab for 15 years...best damn dog ever!

Sir-
I assume you are talking about homebrewing. If not, then you are on the wrong forum.
Black labs really are the best damn dog ever. I don't care what other dog anyone wants to compare them to.


Sorry , I just couldn't resist

 

[Beer Snob]

I'll bet Thunder comes in handy for blowoff messes! I had a black lab for 15 years...best damn dog ever!

Yeah he is enjoying his "moments" of highly usufullyness When I was on leave and pretty much bedridden he never left the side of my bed. It seems as if he has gotten a bit protective of me becuase of it.

He is a great dog. He is trained to respond to several sounds:
phone
door
knock
wierd "intruder" noises
fire alarm
Michael (if we are walking he will stop and turn around towards the person calling me)
Get Michael (a favorite of my SWMBO)
Chair alarms at the nursing home (residents who have a chair alarm set it off if the stand... the noise is for the most part out of my hearing range)
cooking timer
alarm clock
I have an entertaiment side business. I go to nursing homes and sing (got loads of equipment) Outside of a theapy dog at my nursing home and ones I visit he loves to dance with me.... its a sight

We thought that him and my parrot would be arch enemies, but nothign further can be the truth. He is very protective of him actually. If my parrot decides to take a walk along the floor (something we dont encourage by any means), he will go get us and bring us to where Buddy (green cheeck conure) is.

 

[sudsmonkey]

Michael-
I've never, until tonight , heard of a hearing dog. I've heard of seeing-eye dogs, and assistance animals ( including mini horses).That's absolutely fascinating that a dog can be trained to do what he does.
It's great that he can make a hearing disability so much less of one.
My dog loves beer. I strongly urge you to share one with Thunder from time to time. Sounds like he earns it !

 

[Mr_Turtlehead]

LOL sudsmonkey... I hate it when I have this forum and the "bestiality forum" windows open at the same time

 

[Sir Sudster]

You have to be gentle with Sudsmonkey. He still suffers from some previous trauma with animals. Mainly primates.

Michael, how can you sing if you can't hear? Do you just a feel for the vibrations? How does Thunder like your singing?

 

[Beer Snob]

You have to be gentle with Sudsmonkey. He still suffers from some previous trauma with animals. Mainly primates.

Michael, how can you sing if you can't hear? Do you just a feel for the vibrations? How does Thunder like your singing?

Oh I'm not completely Deaf. 98% Deaf in right ear and 97% in left. My hearing aids do cover for me well. I was born Deaf, my hearing started to drop like a stone when I was learning speech... between that and a lot of speech therapy as a child, my speech is pretty good... you probably would not know even know that I was Deaf. Telephone conversation is pretty much hit or miss.... if I know what your talking about I can follow pretty well. I read lips a lot so talking on the telephone is sometimes a bit of guess work. I have a PDA/Cell and use messaging as a back up (pretty regularly actually). It is very hard when someone calls me and I have no clue what they are calling about. Most of the time I dont even know who is it till I ask... I could be talking to my mother on the other end, though if she did not tell me chances are I would not know. If I am tired the probablity of being able to understand you is drasticly reduced. Even with lip reading there is a substantial amount of guess work involved. Many things when lip read look exactly the same. By the contex of what you are talking about and the content of the sentence I'm able to figure out what is being talked about most of the time. I obviously misunderstand many times as well. With important calls my wife handles them and with important apointments that I have had in the past months she or someone goes with me.

I do know sign language (Thunder answers to vocal and ASL commands). I had an interpertor come to my wedding and all of my classes in college was signed. Lisa, my wife, does not know sign yet but is learning slowly

 

[Beer Snob]

How does Thunder like your singing?

On the point of singing in tune or singing well.... I would probably not go to sing for anyone. Seinors at a home is one thing. They are pretty much in it for the fun and attention that they get Oh and of course the miricles of the electronic music age does help smooth over some as well

 

[Truble]

Black labs really are the best damn dog ever. I don't care what other dog anyone wants to compare them to.

Sorry , I just couldn't resist

I'll see your black lab, Sudszo, and raise you 2 chocolabs.

I actually met a deaf man with a hearing dog. It was pretty neat. His speech was fine, as he went deaf later in life, and he talked a lot about how much his dog has helped him out-he was single/lived alone...etc etc. Dog was.....drum roll..........a black lab!

 

[Beer Snob]

Dog was.....drum roll..........a black lab!

The certifiying body I went though, Paws with a cause, actually breeds mix breeds. 1/2 Lab and 1/2 Golden Retriever. They find that the mix gives them the best of both dogs. Full breeds of either dog gives them traits that they dont find the best for service dogs. For instance Lab are incredible hunting dogs. They exibit what PWAC would call "finder" traits. The dog "finds" the hunted.... But a dog with an overwhleming amount of "Finder" traits would not neccessarily be a good service dog. This dog would literally "find" things... like food on the floor or perhaps would leave the person to go "find" something. Not to mention, full labs are A LOT bigger then Thunder. I can't see living in an apartment with a dog larger then the 70ish pounds I already have. Then again, small dogs are not that great either in general. Too hyper.

What a dog gooes through to get to the point where he/she is with me for instance is incredible. The dogs are watched and a decision is made to it's "Career". For example... a dog with the "finder" traits mentioned above would not probably be sent to me. This dog would be sent to perhaps State Police. The dog's natural trait to find things would be honed... he/she woudld find drugs or missing people, ect. Because of where I work, Thunder had to go through probably more scurtiny then most.

 

[todd_k]

My dog Floyd chews all of his toys until they are destroyed, he is a bit of a spaz, hence the name Hurricane Floyd!
Anyway, he has 2 toys that have lasted for almost his entire life. His Kong and his Cuz. Every dog owner knows what a Kong is but in case you don't know what a Cuz is, I got it at Petsmart. It's basically a rubber squeaky ball about the size of a softball but it also has feet. Mine is red and had devil horns (those didn't last long). They used to only come in red and white but now I see them in all sorts of colors. A lot of dog toys say they are indestructible but this one really has lasted a long time.
I bought this one indestructible toy once from a company called Bamboo. The tag that came with it actually said that if your dog, or a pack of rabid wolves, ever tears this toy, they will replace it for free. Floyd put a hole in it in less then 15 minutes. cross:
So if your dog chews alot, get a Cuz and a Kong.

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

My dog loves beer. I strongly urge you to share one with Thunder from time to time. Sounds like he earns it !

Ever see the Simpson's where homer get Mojo the helper monky? He feeds it beer and donuts... Goes from fetching him beer to barely being able to get off the couch.

Mojo Explained

 

[McCall St. Brewer]

Well thats much easier. Now I reply or make a thread and get email if someone replies. You know how hard it is to remember which threads you wrote to

This forum could use a "my threads" feature to make it easy to keep track of who has responded to your posts.

 

[sudsmonkey]

Ever see the Simpson's where homer get Mojo the helper monky? He feeds it beer and donuts... Goes from fetching him beer to barely being able to get off the couch.

Mojo Explained

That's pretty funny ! My old business partner and I toyed with the idea of buying a monkey as an advertising/ convenience type of deal.
We could put him on the desk of someone who we were negotiating a contract with to wreak havoc until our terms were met.
When one of us dropped a tool while hanging off of a 40 foot pole, we could have the monkey bring it up to us instead of climbing our fat asses down to get it ourselves.
Downsides were that monkeys live for around 30-40 years if you don't shoot them, and the small monkeys can't be potty trained. We didn't want to spend the next several years changing banana smelling diapers.
Screw that!

 

[Janx]

Loving the dog stories. Thunder sounds like a great dog!

I have a chocolate and a Black lab myself. Chocolate is named Barley

They really are the best. Mine haven't ever managed to destroy a Kong. Packing some peanut butter in it is a fun game for them for sure.

And Barley is NUTS for beer and brewing in general. He hates loud noise in general, but he loves to hang when I'm grinding grain and go after all the stray bits. I always give him a few handfuls. He really loves the finished product and gets all kinda feisty and talkative when I offer him a little.

Anyway...dogs...gotta love em

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

This forum could use a "my threads" feature to make it easy to keep track of who has responded to your posts.

If you go into User CP you can set your default for subscriptions to "No email notification" then when you make a post you aree automaticly subbed. Then go to User Cp and it will display any new posts to your subbed threads.

 

[BlightyBrewer]

Dogs are the best. Thunder sounds like he's from the top 1% of intelligent dogs...maybe you should rename him Thunder, Ph.D.?

On the subject of helper monkeys, what about the chaos that the helper monkey caused for Craig in "Malcolm in the Middle".....scary...

 

[homebrewer_99]

Two of my 3 daughters work in Nursing Homes.

About 12 years ago my youngest daughter asked if I'd give a HB demonstration to the folks. I said sure.

She said there would only be about 6-7 people who might be interested, but when I got there there were over 30 of them!

I talked them through the ingredients and such an boiled up a batch. Man, some of the questions and comments I got?! I never knew there were so many moonshiners and bathtub gin makers in our neighborhood!

Anyway, you know I had samples (glad I had extras). Those oldtimers wiped me out!

By the time I was done the old guys were pinching bottoms and having wheelchair races down the hall and the "girls" were all giddy!

One of the times I wish I had a video camera, but in retrospect, I was lucky since there would be no evidence for the trial. (No trial, just a commentary).

 

[God Emporer BillyBrew]

I had a yellow named Barley and a chocolate named Turbo. they were well named, Barley loved beer and Turbo took off every time you opened the front door.

Turbo actually destroyed a Kong. Chewed right throught it. Jeeze he was a nut.

 

[sudsmonkey]

Dogs are the best. Thunder sounds like he's from the top 1% of intelligent dogs...maybe you should rename him Thunder, Ph.D.?

On the subject of helper monkeys, what about the chaos that the helper monkey caused for Craig in "Malcolm in the Middle".....scary...

I didn't relize that BskyB carried Fox .

 

[Beer Snob]

Two of my 3 daughters work in Nursing Homes.

About 12 years ago my youngest daughter asked if I'd give a HB demonstration to the folks. I said sure.

She said there would only be about 6-7 people who might be interested, but when I got there there were over 30 of them!

I talked them through the ingredients and such an boiled up a batch. Man, some of the questions and comments I got?! I never knew there were so many moonshiners and bathtub gin makers in our neighborhood!

Anyway, you know I had samples (glad I had extras). Those oldtimers wiped me out!

By the time I was done the old guys were pinching bottoms and having wheelchair races down the hall and the "girls" were all giddy!

One of the times I wish I had a video camera, but in retrospect, I was lucky since there would be no evidence for the trial. (No trial, just a commentary).

I realy want to do this! I think it would be a great event How do you get the carboy home though? Did you have to worry about it being shaken around?

 

[Caplan]

How do you get the carboy home though? Did you have to worry about it being shaken around?

Bill used his special 'Helfer Affe' to carry it and stop it splashing about on the way home!

Thunder must be a great help Michael!