What does a hearing dog do?

Rasta travels the Dempster Highway up to the Arctic Ocean

Rasta is fantastic. Many people ask me exactly what a hearing dog does and if I trained her myself. I did not train her, but rather qualified to receive her from Canine Companions for Independence (CCI), a non-profit. Canine Companions is a national organization that enhances the lives of people with disabilities by providing highly trained service dogs at no charge to the recipient. Once selected to be a recipient, Michael and I traveled to Santa Rosa, CA. to go through a two week training period. At the end of that period, we returned to Alaska with Rasta. Wandering Alaskans became three.

Rasta does many things for me, but it’s best to describe them in three general areas:

Rasta is trained to alert me to sounds in the environment –

If the doorbell or stove alarm goes off, Rasta will come running and alert me by jumping on me and taking me to the sound. If I drop something, she alerts and takes me to what I dropped. There is a long list of sounds Rasta has been trained to alert me to. In addition, if there are “critical” sounds she hears, such as a smoke detector or carbon monoxide alarm, she alerts me and then lays down at my feet. This is to signal for me to leave the area immediately. I wouldn’t want her to take me to the carbon monoxide alarm going off!

Rasta is with me all the time, wearing a vest –

Her presence alerts people to the fact that I am different. In the past, people would speak at me from behind, or sometimes be looking away when they talked. This made it very difficult to hear them – I get by with a healthy dose of lip reading. Rasta wears a blue vest that identifies her as a hearing dog. People see the patches and they know I can not hear well. Strangers now tap my shoulder to talk to me, co-workers and family get a reminder. It is much easier to communicate now with Rasta.

Hearing dog Rasta dressed for work.

Rasta is a dog –

People who can’t hear well tend to watch the people and animals for clues to help facilitate understanding the environment. If a group of people are standing around talking, and everyone suddenly looks to the left, I will look to the left too. Not because I heard anything, but because I want to see what everyone is looking at. This cues me into the fact that something is going on. When I am walking with Rasta, and she suddenly looks back, I know someone or something is coming up behind me. Generally it is a cyclist, but as an Alaskan, once it was a moose! 

The folks at Canine Companions for Independence do an amazing job in training these dogs. Aside from hearing dogs, they also train dogs for other types of service. In addition, they do this as a non-profit. People with disabilities receive their services and assistance at no cost.

Here is my pitch. If you have ever met Rasta and experienced the gift that she can be, please donate to Canine Companions for Independence as a gift in her name. If you haven’t met Rasta yet, donate anyway in her name and feel good about the fact that you are directly contributing to helping people with disabilities get a service that is in high demand. Thank You!

Donate on behalf of Rasta: https://p2p.onecause.com/canine-companions-diy/judy-keslera:

And We Are Off

We were originally planning to ride around the world a two BMW motorcycles that were the same size. Here we are on our 650s in southern Utah.

We have been planning our motorcycle trip from Alaska to Argentina for nearly 20 years. In all of our planning and vision, nowhere did we plan to bring a dog. A dog on a motorcycle just doesn’t seem right. On top of that, Michael and I were planning on riding the same motorcycles because that way we could share the load of spare parts. We had decided to get BMW bikes, as BMW’s and Kawaski’s tended to be the easiest to get parts for across the world.

Originally, we were going to travel the world. This was sparked by the mini-series/documentary Long Way Round (2004) about two guys riding around the world. We have always been motorcycle riders, but never thought about that scale. The series planted a bug.

My hearing has never been the best, but about 12 years ago, it took a turn for the worst. Profound loss they tell me, cochlear implants was the suggestion. I was not ready for that. The alternative was a service dog, specializing in hearing tasks. I opted for the dog, rather than the surgery. After a process and an 18- month wait list. I received Rasta from Canine Companions for Independence. But what would a dog do to travel plans/dreams? Would it still be possible?  We talked about it and the more we discussed, the more we decided “why not?”

Judy and Rasta along with other students in training session in a public space.
Judy and Rasta on graduation day.

We needed a sidecar. Rasta is big, a golden retriever labrador mix. A sidecar needed a larger motorcycle to support. I now have a BMW1200 GSA, and Michael is on a BMW800 GSA. Spare parts plan shot. In 2016, we had a custom made sidecar and motorcycle built for us just south of Seattle, WA. Michael flew down and drove it up to Anchorage, Alaska, our home. We spent the next few years riding all over Alaska and sharing our travel lifestyle with Rasta. We became Wandering Alaskans. We wandered to the top reaches of the planet (Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories, Canada), where Rasta dipped her paws in the Arctic Ocean. In August of 2022, we sold our house in Anchorage and hit the road, Ushuaia, Argentina-bound. Rasta needs to dip her paws in the Southern Sea.

Rasta’s first ride in the sidecar
Rasta is probably the first service dog to arrive at the Arctic Ocean in a sidecar.
Rasta dipping her paws in the Arctic Ocean
Michael, Judy and Rasta depart for their three year long journey from Alaska to Argentina.
Judy waves goodbye to Alaska and home.