MONDAY 11 APRIL 2016
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Meet Mac, the hearing dog who has become this young girl’s best friend Danny Buckland A PROFOUNDLY deaf 10-yearold girl and her cockapoo Mac are demonstrating the transformative effects of hearing dogs as they become the faces of a new campaign. Tess McGregor, from north London, has told how the threeyear-old “changed her life”. He not only performs a huge range of tasks — from waking her up to alerting her to danger — but gives her confidence and companionship. Mac is one of 33 dogs in a scheme bringing hope to deaf children, whose condition can leave them isolated. He was trained by Hearing Dogs for Deaf People, based in Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire, to distinguish up to 10 sounds, including a doorbell, telephone, iPad bleeps and fire alarms and react and pose to tell Tess what
to do. Tess’s mother, Justine, 44, a lawyer, also has Mac take messages to her daughter in a purse. “It says things like, ‘Dinner is ready, come down now,” said Tess. “Mac has changed my life.” It takes 18 months to train a hearing dog and £40,000 to train and support it during its working life, but many have saved their owners’ lives by
responding to fire alarms. Tess’s father Rob, a 46-year-old property developer, said: “Mac being around gives her more confidence and when she goes and lives on her own I can see her having a hearing dog for the rest of her life.” Tess, who was fitted with cochlear implants when she was four, has been selected for the Great Britain developmental squad for deaf tennis and Mac even goes with her to training at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton. Michele Jennings, chief executive of Hearing Dogs for Deaf People, which trains 140 dogs a year, said: “The impact of a hearing dog is life changing. They help with development, confidence and wellbeing, and will often alleviate feelings of stress and anxiety.” O For more information, visit hearingdogs.org.uk Companion: Tess McGregor with Mac. Top left, after her implant surgery