Deaf woman to abseil for Hearing Dogs charity

A woman from Portsmouth is planning to do a sponsored abseil to raise cash for Hearing Dogs for Deaf People.

Thirty seven-year-old Lisa Baldock, who is deaf, has a hearing dog, three-year-old black Labrador Inca, wants to support the charity in getting more hearing dogs to people in need of the animals, reports AboutMyArea.

To do this, she will be abseiling down Spinnaker Tower the month after next, with nine friends joining her in the challenge. The event is set to take place May 26th.

Of Inca, Ms Baldock has said the dog lets her know if her doorbell rings, when the alarm clock goes off and if the fire alarm is sounding. The dog has been trained to give her a nudge when certain sounds occur.

“She's such a lovely dog, when she goes into work she's so excited to see everyone and has to have everyone stroke her to say hello first thing," Ms Baldock told the news provider.

She added that the dog has boosted her confidence because previously she’d relied on a pager to let her know if a fire alarm was sounding.

“But it was always breaking or I dropped it. Now I don't have to worry about it and don't have to tell everyone where I am going," she said.

Having suffered from depression, she says Inca has been able to help with this.

"It's helped me with my depression, helped with my anxiety and helped with my lifestyle. I have so much more independence and get out a lot more now," she explained.

According to its website, every dog Hearing Dogs for Deaf People provides gets trained to match the needs of the person who it will be living with, and dogs are given to their owners free of charge. It costs some £45,000 to breed, train, place and care for each of the dogs.

Discover details of our hearing tests by visiting the dedicated section of our website.