{"id":21351,"date":"2013-01-09T22:22:32","date_gmt":"2013-01-10T03:22:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/?p=21351"},"modified":"2013-01-10T02:38:51","modified_gmt":"2013-01-10T07:38:51","slug":"deaf-man-gets-help-from-furry-friend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2013\/01\/09\/deaf-man-gets-help-from-furry-friend\/","title":{"rendered":"Deaf man gets help from furry friend"},"content":{"rendered":"

Deaf man gets help from furry friend<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thelma and Ron Goosman pose with Ron’s hearing service dog, Nickel. Ron holds an E-T issue published 13 years ago when details of his first hearing dog, Billy Bud, were reported.<\/p>\n

January 7, 2013<\/p>\n

By DONNIE BRYANT donnie.bryant@empiretribune.com<\/p>\n

Though he is a citizen of Dublin, Ron Goosman is a bit of a celebrity in Stephenville.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never realized I knew so many people,” Ron said. \u201cBut everyone kept asking me what had happened to my other dog, Billy Bud, who was with me for 13 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ron was talking about his special service dog who had been his ears for more than a decade. Accustomed to seeing him with his Lhasa Apso, area residents were caught off guard when they saw him escorted by a new pedigree of hearing dog.<\/p>\n

\u201cI live in Dublin, but there\u2019s a lot of people in Stephenville who recognized Billy Bud and me and have been asking me what happened to him,” Ron said. “Three people in Walmart stopped and asked me. I wanted to let people know I have a new hearing dog.\u201d<\/p>\n

After 13 years of loyal service, Billy Bud died in July 2011, which understandably hit Ron pretty hard. But May of the next year was to bring on a new era for him and his wife, Thelma, when a \u201cpuggle,\u201d a hybrid of pug and beagle breeds, named Nickel was introduced to the family.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe bonded pretty quickly,\u201d Ron said. \u201cI was tickled to death.”<\/p>\n

Ron has only 95 percent of his hearing due to working around ear-damaging Air Force jet engines in the 1950s.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was with the fire department in the Air Force, stationed at Fort Biggs in El Paso when I started losing my hearing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Egypt’s decision to block the Suez Canal by sinking 40 ships into its water stirred up further trouble in the Middle East. It was a catalyst that would lead to Ron’s hearing loss.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe went on a two week alert and had to stand by with the jets for maintenance,\u201d he explained. “We had to listen to the radio communication and didn’t have ear protection in those days.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ron, who has been trained to read lips, heard about the Dogs for the Deaf program that operates out of southern Oregon and was given Billy Bud in 1997. The dog was his companion until Billy Bud’s health began to fail.<\/p>\n

Enter the puggle who has taken over the role faithfully served by his predecessor.<\/p>\n

Nickel is not yet two, and he is an armful of youthful energy still undergoing some growth in maturity.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was not housebroken when we got him,\u201d Thelma said. \u201cHe had lived in a kennel previously. But we trained him, and he has done very well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nickel has a thick growth of auburn fur and a generous underbite.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you know of a veterinarian orthodontist we could contact?\u201d Ron joked.<\/p>\n

What he might lack in dental aesthetics is unimportant when the magnitude of Nickel\u2019s training is considered. Ron said the pooches undergo 5-7 months of intense training at the Dogs for the Deaf facility. The organization uses dogs from shelters who are between eight and 24 months old.<\/p>\n

Though Nickel is a welcome addition to the Goosman family, Billy Bud still has a place in Ron’s heart. The former Air Force man carries a silver medal of a dog with angel wings on his keychain in his late friend’s honor. He will never forget his companion who provided him with so many years of loyal service.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe helped to give me more freedom,\u201d Ron said.<\/p>\n

For more information about Dogs for the Deaf, visit http:\/\/www.dogsforthedeaf.org<\/a><\/p>\n

Sara Vanden Berge is the managing editor of the Empire-Tribune. She can be reached at sara.vandenberge@empiretribune.com. Follow her on Twitter @ETeditor.<\/p>\n

SOURCE:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.yourstephenvilletx.com\/news\/local\/article_6462e51e-58f8-11e2-be4a-0019bb2963f4.html<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Deaf man gets help from furry friend Thelma and Ron Goosman pose with Ron’s hearing service dog, Nickel. Ron holds an E-T issue published 13 years ago when details of his first hearing dog, Billy Bud, were reported. January 7,…<\/p>\n

Read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[1684,444,16530,16522,16526,16524,16528,16525,16529,6432,17,1023,16523,16527],"class_list":["post-21351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-deaf-news","tag-brazoria-fort-bend-rdspd","tag-dog","tag-dogs-for-the-deaf","tag-donnie-bryant","tag-goosman","tag-hearing-service-dog","tag-puggle","tag-ron-goosman","tag-sara-vanden-berge","tag-stephenville","tag-texas","tag-the-frontiers-of-flight-museum","tag-thelma-goosman","tag-walmart"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p752R-5yn","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":22368,"url":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2013\/04\/03\/obituary-barbara-jean-bryant\/","url_meta":{"origin":21351,"position":0},"title":"Obituary: Barbara Jean Bryant","author":"Grant Laird Jr","date":"April 3, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"OBITUARY: BARBARA JEAN BRYANT 1950 - 2013 Barbara Jean Bryant passed away peacefully on Wednesday, March 27, 2013. 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