I’ve had a few more weeks with the Siemens hearing aids, there have been a few adjustments and I’ll probably need some more, and life is good. So good, that I booked a course for Darling Hubby and myself and until the night before we were to attend, I didn’t think about the idea of not being able to hear it.  How’s that for progress?  We went to the course this morning and we now have cards from the American Red Cross certifiying us in Pet CPR and First Aid. And their assurance that no animals were harmed in the making of the instructional DVD. Whew.

Actually, the course was great and though I couldn’t get every word, between the book, the DVD on screen and Darling Hubby repeating things, I feel satisfied that I learned a lot.  My lack of hearing didn’t get in the way at all.  It hardly gets in the way at all these days.  The sound is so good, I’m reading lips really well again.  (Go figure that I need sound to read lips because I can’t hear. Sounds almost loopy, doesn’t it?)

The course was scheduled for 10:00 on a Sunday morning, so you can imagine how much we love dogs.   Anyway, there were twelve of us and a bunch of mats with stuffed dogs and cats.  Not the kind you buy in a toy store, of course.  These had noses that you could blow air into and chests meant for practice compressions. (By the way, don’t ever feed your dog chocolate, grapes, raisins, onions, or moldy cheese!  They’re toxic to dogs. )  Learning what to do in emergencies gave us a feeling of security that we aren’t helpless anymore when it comes to Precious Dog.  We hope he never tests us, but we feel like we know something now.

If you’re interested in taking the course yourself, check with the Red Cross web site. I don’t know if they have the courses in Canada, but they do have some advice about pets on their web site.  We took our course in New York City so I know it’s available in the U.S.  It’s a very worthwhile thing to do and hopefully, you’ll never need to use what you’ve learned.